The big squeeze in cricket: Should ODIs and T20Is be scrapped? – Sporting News

Cricket has always been an anxious sport, caught up in a never-ending existential crisis.
The death of Test cricket has been forecast for almost as long as the game has been played and the bell-tolling has intensified each time something new came along to threaten the primacy of established norms: World Series Cricket, T20 cricket in general, the IPL in particular and The Hundred, to name but a few.
At any of these moments you could almost see those who love the game nervously glancing at each other and whispering: “Are we here yet?”
In cricket’s globally intertwined nature, nothing happens in isolation.
The Indian Premier League’s new broadcast mega-deal came on the back of an increase in the number of team from eight to ten and it’s entirely possible that future editions of the IPL will last three months, the blackout on international cricket during the behemoth leaving roughly nine months for everyone else to squeeze in all bilateral cricket and their own domestic competitions.
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There’s also a men’s ICC tournament scheduled every year until at least 2030 (and nothing to suggest the number will decrease after that), so probably best make that seven or eight months.
While scheduling has become an ever-tightening corset that squeezes the breathing room out of cricket, lucrative T20 leagues outside the IPL are competing for the diminishing windows available.
England are currently cramming in their white-ball bilateral against India and South Africa at a dizzying rate in order to clear a two-week window in August for The Hundred.
While other boards are also manoeuvring to give their domestic T20 competitions their own windows to ensure the availability of their best players, the recent decision to scrap the ODI series between Australia and South Africa in January stands out.
Cricket South Africa made it known they wanted to play the matches at another time, although it’s not clear just when that time would be available with other commitments already locked in.
CSA have essentially risked World Cup qualification by forfeiting the points on offer for that series so they can have their best players take part in their third attempt to launch a successful T20 tournament, this time with the involvement of some heavyweight IPL owners.
To take such a risk is extraordinary, particular when considering the financial rewards of playing in a World Cup.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia is tipping in cash for a Big Bash League draft above the salary cap of each club while talking up the lifestyle benefits of a summer spent in Australia.
Players love coming to Australia! Well, perhaps, but if that attraction was stronger than hard cash, then why is the extra hard cash needed?
CA are desperately keen for Australia’s big draw cards to play in the BBL, but international fixtures have traditionally made it impossible for them to do so.
It’s (literally!) coming home for Aaron Finch and Co. 😉#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/MfjfRpGO73
To emphasise the pressure, CA’s major free-to-air broadcast partner, Seven Network, are taking them to court partly because they allege the standards of the BBL have been below what was contractually required. CA responded to the allegations in a statement, saying: “CA is astonished that Seven has brought this unwarranted action which will be strenuously defended.”
So, what gives?
While Test cricket has often seemed most fragile, could bilateral ODIs and T20Is be the formats most at risk outside of ICC events, despite their popularity as a crowd-drawing and high-rating broadcast product?
After setting up the World Super League in 2020 — intended to give more context and value to ODIs as a pathway to World Cup qualification — the ICC backflipped at the end of 2021 and announced the league would be scrapped after next year’s World Cup.
There will still be a rankings system and qualifying tournaments but the scrapped series between South Africa and Australia may be an indication of administrations’ future priorities.
Speaking at Lord’s this week, India captain Rohit Sharma said he firmly believes in the necessity of bilateral white-ball series.
“I do think it is important but it can be managed in a better way for sure,” said Sharma. “The scheduling has to be done with some space as well, but I mean, obviously you have to play bilateral series.
“The time between each game can be managed slightly better, not just from India’s perspective but from all boards.
“If that happens, you see the best quality of the players coming out and representing every game.
“When you play back to back games you got to look after the players you’ve got to try and understand the workload and all of that and, honestly, from the outside world, people want to see all the best players playing and if those things are managed quite well the quality of cricket will not be compromised.”
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Rohit suggested a return to series involving multiple teams; something that could have seen England, India and South Africa currently playing a T20 and ODI tri-series in between Tests, rather than four white-ball series back-to-back.
“As a kid, I watched a lot of tri-series, quadrangular series, but that’s completely stopped,” added Sharma. “I think that can be a way forward where there is enough time for a team to recover and get back because these are all high pressure games that we play and whenever you represent your country, you want to come out with a lot of intensity, so you don’t want to compromise on that.”
Jos Buttler agrees with his India counterpart that bilateral white-ball series need to stay, but with better management.
“When the big ICC events are closer together, that makes that tough as well because that just takes time out of the calendar for when players could rest or when bilateral series are played at full intensity, for example,” said Buttler. “I do still think they’re very relevant.
“I think it’s certainly an interesting time for cricket but I do still feel that, done properly, bilateral series – and I like Rohit’s idea of tri-series as well – I think they’re actually a really good way of playing international cricket.”
Australia’s white ball captain Aaron Finch points to the need for bilateral cricket to ensure the standard of World Cups remains high.
“You still need international cricket to be able to get the amount of content,” said Finch, during Australia’s recent tour of Sri Lanka. “The standard isn’t the same when you play domestic competitions so to be able to come in and out of international cricket is a real challenge and when you’ve got world class players turning up in a bilateral series, it’s so hard to just flick in and out of that mode.
“So I think, overall, we need to look at how we can all work together because the marketplace is getting condensed quite a bit but bilateral series are definitely so important to the game.”
It is, of course, not surprising that captains of international sides would defend the formats of which they are, in some ways, the custodians.
But the announcement of the next ICC Future Tours Programme is imminent, and while the pandemic has made the last cycle particularly problematic, there is no guaranteeing the new one will be any easier with the increasing desire of boards to host the second-biggest white-ball domestic league after the IPL.
The corset stays are being pulled tighter and cricket can only breath in so much before someone faints, whispering: “Are we here yet?”

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