While admitting that the game would have to ‘adapt and evolve’, International Cricket Council Chief Executive Officer Haroon Lorgat said 50-over cricket was still alive, proof of which could be drawn from the ongoing World Cup.
“We have success in our hands in the 50-over format. And so to answer the original question [is there room for 50-over cricket in a newfound Twenty20 World], the answer is a resounding yes,” he said.
“The changes are an adaptation to an ever evolving game, and the game will continue to adapt and evolve”.
Rather than the total scrapping of the format, it needed to be given context and content, and much of the crisis that surrounded the game a year ago was self-inflicted, Mr. Lorgat added.
Speaking at the Sri Lanka Press Institute Press Club meeting held on Monday, Lorgat said there was evidence to prove that the formerly ‘shortest version of the game’, was still growing in popularity.
Lorgat shared figures from a research which stated that 676 million people in five markets — namely England, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Bangladesh –expressed ‘not only interest but a passion’ for the 50-over form of the game.
A recent example of this trend was the World Cup match between England and India in Bengaluru on February 27th, when the teams shared a thrilling tie, which recorded the most watched game in history of One-Day International cricket, a record which he said “could very well be broken when India meet Pakistan on Wednesday.”
He added that as part of the strategic restructuring of international cricket, the ICC board had approved a change in context of one-day international cricket through the formation of an international league structure, the principle and mechanics of which will be confirmed next week when the ICC meets after the World Cup.
Read moreHe also said that Associate teams have been included in the Future Tour Programme in an ‘adhov’ manner and test teams are being encouraged to send teams, even A teams, to Associate teams to develop their standard in cricket.
Lorgat said the much talked-about reduction of teams at the next World Cup, from 14 teams to 10 teams, was to ensure the competitive nature of the world cup remains competitive.
He added, “As more teams progress competitively we will get more teams. [into the World Cup]''
He explained that the next World T20 had been expanded to 16 teams for this purpose, giving them the chance to compete on an international stage and “hopefully they will migrate from T20 cricket into One-Day cricket.”When asked about the physical toll the current schedules were having on players, Lorgat said that there was not much change in the volume of matches compared to previous years, but the responsibility for that is with several parties and it is difficult for the ICC alone to unilaterally control that volume.
Addressing a question about the future of test cricket in the back-drop of the shorter forms of cricket, Lorgat said “Similar to the noise that abound about 50-over cricket, was what we heard two years ago about test cricket, and I am glad to say that has
also fallen away. People expect test cricket to endure.”
“We are envisaging a test league system where the top four teams will progress to a test knock-out that will determine a test champion. We also anticipate having a one-day champion, [through the proposed league structure] and a T20 champion from the World T20 Championship.”
DM - By Shehan Daniel
