50 Over Cricket Scrapped?!?
I realise this is slightly old news, but I still can't understand the ECB's decision to scrap 50 over cricket from its domestic season. If they are serious about producing quality 50 over players at inernational level, then surely they must mirror the format in county cricket. Are they banking on the demise of the 50 over game at international level? Surely not considering World Cups are already locked in for 2011 and 2015 with massive TV deals and sponsorships already signed. I suppose time will tell, but its hard not to see a slide down the ODI rankings for England in years to come.
6 comments:
You may not have noticed, but England hasn't been serious about producing quality 50 over players at international level for about 20 years.
I heard that South Africa don't have a 50 over competition and as they are number 1 in the world, the ECB thought that set the precedent for ignoring the international format.
But I agree with you - all domestic leagues should mirror international cricket if they are aiming to win international matches.
If there is to be no first class 50 over cricket then what format should amateur cricket take. Should all the leagues go for playing 40 over cricket to match what happens with the professionals?
Good shout. I think all but the most serious club cricketers want shorter matches and 40/40 would work nicely. But it would have to be limited overs - it's hard enough to get a side out for a win in 50 overs or so.
Thats exactly the plan I had in mind following an exceedingly boring draw last weekend. (http://omt.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=10737970) The oppposition never went out to win and really wasted a lot of our time (not just with an over rate of under 13 an hour).
I just realised that all the domestic competitions around the world are played over four days, not five like test matches. So I guess the precedent is set right there.
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