Rest in Peace ODIs: MCC urges ICC to reduce bilateral matches, free up calendar

The days are numbered for ODIs. Once one of the most popular formats of cricket, One-Day Cricket or 50-over cricket is dying a slow death. And, MCC’s World Cricket Committee has put the final nail in the coffin. Headed by former England captain Mike Gatting, the committee has recommended International Cricket Council (ICC) to reduce bilateral ODIs and free up the calendar for more Tests and T20s.

On the sidelines of Ashes 2023, the two-day meeting raised more questions than answers. While ODI World Cup in India is certain to be the answer to whether ODIs can survive, outside India, England and Australia, it’s not so. The committee wants a substantial reduction in the number of ODIs post World Cup 2027 except for the year leading up to the 2031 WC.

“This would, as a consequence, also create much-needed space in the global cricketing calendar,” the MCC said.

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However, with ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) already out for 2023-27, ODIs will continue as it was.

“Nothing is going to be removed,” Wasim Khan, the ICC’s general manager of cricket said earlier.

However, post-2027 WC, ICC will focus more on T20s and Tests than on a format which is not a money-spinner anymore. T20s are the future of the Olympics and other multi-sport events.

Furthermore, with mushrooming T20 leagues in every nation, ICC understands the importance to co-exist with franchise cricket.

The likes of Jason Roy and Trent Boult apart from West Indies superstars have already rejected central contracts from their respective boards to play franchise cricket in different countries.

With the popularity of those franchise crickets rising apart from the Indian Premier League, the freed-up space from inconsequential bilateral ODIs can help the cricketers as well as boards in planning and reviving Test cricket which continues to be the pinnacle of cricket.

MCC to ICC: Test Fund to support Test cricket

With that view, MCC has proposed ICC to create a Test fund which can help smaller nations host Test matches. Currently, the likes of Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan refrain from hosting Test games as they are costly five-day affair. And they also do not generate enough revenue if big teams do not play.

“This audit of operational costs of hosting a Test match versus commercial return would help the ICC identify nations in need of support in order to sustain a Test match programme This need could be subsequently addressed via a separate Test fund, established to “protect the sanctity of Test match cricket.”

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