50 over Cricket: Will it survive?

The flavor of the month seems to be to moan the death of one-day cricket. I will withhold my judgment until after the end of the Champions Trophy, an event that is supposed to resuscitate a form of cricket that has captivated us for well over 30 years. It is a shame that it has come down to this. On the other hand, if an event with the top 8 teams competing each other (and you really cannot help the West Indies debacle and England’s abysmal performances) fails to generate any interest then we can say with certainty that the days of 50 over cricket are numbered. After all, with no meaningless contests due the absence of minnows and some sporting pitches and good crowds (hopefully), we should be in for some cracking games.

In the meantime, in keeping with the spirit of the moment, let me join the bandwagon of the scribes presenting ideas to keep 50 over cricket alive. Admittedly some of these may sound a little outlandish, but they will work for sure!!

1) England needs to win the Champions trophy: Sadly the presence of English writers in the blogosphere is more than the writers of the rest of the cricket world combined. It is no surprise therefore that the doom and gloom scenarios are given birth by and then largely driven by them and are usually a reflection of the way England fares. Test cricket was in danger when England lost in the West Indies, but surprisingly all that talk has now subsided in the post Ashes euphoria. So a surprise win in South Africa for Andrew Strauss’ boys will quench a bulk of the miserable predictions from these pessimistic idiots for sure!!

2) A venue rating system needs to be implemented for most of the pitches currently being used for ODIs and test matches and venues that produce lopsided batathons or slow stodgy dustbowls that kill strokeplay must be penalized. So should venues where the use of floodlights provides an undue advantage for the bowling team. This will automatically eliminate all ODIs from Sri Lanka (been a long time coming!!), most of the second tier venues in India, the dew affected venues from South Africa and some of the venues from New Zealand where games got over before lunchtime. Great contests are often played on surfaces that offer pace, bounce and turn and where the ball comes on to the bat. Pitch making is an art and the curators who get it right should be rewarded with more games. On the other hand, the difference between runs scored per wicket in the first innings and the second innings is well over 10 runs in Colombo. Such mundane predictability of the results devalues the game.

3) More multi nation tournaments: Some of the best moments in ODIs have involved tournaments with 3-4 teams in them. If the ICC does end up scraping the Champions trophy, then it is essential to reinstall these tournaments specially in countries like England, South Africa and India where attracting crowds for neutral games is not an issue. Dead rubbers are eliminated in a properly structured tri-series and people tend to remember contests where qualification was at stake rather than a regular bilateral series (which seldom go up to the final game).

4) Two 25 over innings was an idea supported by Tendulkar and deserves some attention. This will eliminate the importance of toss, pitch wear and tear and allow folks to come in after a day of work to still see their team bat atleast once. Using two new balls from both ends and letting certain bowlers bowl more than their allotted 10 overs will tilt the scales slightly in the favor of bowlers and put a premium on good technique and sharp, skillful batting as opposed to the mindless slogging in the powerplay and a pact of non-aggression in the middle overs that we see today.

5) Enough has been written about the need to make ODIs more exclusive. No sport goes on all the year round and cricket should be no exception. NFL is the world’s richest sports league inspite of the teams playing only between 16-20 games a year. ODIs offer plenty of scope for advertisers and maintaining their exclusivity is in the best interests of the administrators. Day night matches provide a grand spectacle and can be used to target a broader range of primetime audiences. More day-night games should be encouraged.

Judging from the crowds showing up at most venues, ODIs still hold a place in the hearts of the audiences the world over. There is no reason why cricket cannot continue to sustain 3 formats. All we need is some sensible administration and policy. Let us hope that is reflected in the next Future Tours Program!!

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