“ODI cricket should only be played at the World Cup”- MCC President Mark Nicholas says this needs to be done to preserve the format

Mark Nicholas says let all countries have their own T20 Leagues.

“ODI cricket should only be played at the World Cup”- MCC President Mark Nicholas says this needs to be done to preserve the format

Mark Nicholas (Image via ESPN)

With only a few days to the start of the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup, Marylebone Cricket Club’s incoming president, Mark Nicholas,  claims the only way to save One Day Internationals is by only playing it during the World Cup. In a meeting with MCC, he noted how the frequency of ODIs played has reduced outside of the ODI World Cup year. 

Nicholas, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, said that it’s not performing well as people just do not attend ODI and List A matches. He then added, “We believe strongly that ODIs should be World Cups only. We think it’s difficult bilaterally now to justify them. They’re not filling grounds in a lot of countries. And there is a power at the moment to T20 cricket that is almost supernatural.”

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Mark Nicholas says each country wants to run their own T20 Leagues and let the format take the center stage of World Cricket, with each board earning as much as money as possible for them. Nicholas says by playing ODIs along with T20 tournaments and series, the death of ODI comes closer. 

Related: What is Aussie great Mark Taylor’s radical solution to save Test cricket? Will it mark the beginning of demise of the longest format?

Is T20 cricket killing Tests and ODIs?

When the Board of Control for Cricket in India inaugurated the first T20 league, Indian Premi er League, where non-Indian players could play, the cricketing world was shaken. Each board created their own T20 league, with almost all offering huge sums of money to just play for a couple of months. 

CSK
CSK win their 5th IPL (Image via ESPN)

With the amount of money being offered by T20 leagues, players decided they would rather play for any franchise instead of  representing their nation. Fans preferred to watch short, high action matches where something is bound to happen every other ball over the naturally slow ODI and Test Cricket. Cricket South Africa had cancelled a 3 match ODI series against Australia so that they could host their first T20 league, the SA20, despite being in a terrible position in the ICC ODI Super League.

It is expensive for boards to even host Test matches as many fans aren’t able to watch 5 days of cricket due to schools, jobs, etc. Countries like New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc, only host two test match series as they know fans won’t turn up. Countries like India, England and Australia have a huge test cricket following and culture, which ensures the stadiums are filled up for most matches. With players and audiences preferring the adrenaline filled T20 cricket, it is possible for Test Cricket and ODI cricket to soon take the backseat. We could see cricket being played in the football format, where clubs have more importance than international matches.

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