Mark Nicholas – President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), former England cricketer and commentator, made news with his statements about ODI cricket ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
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Mark Nicholas, speaking with a cricketing website, said 50-over contests should only be World Cups. The MCC president was of the opinion that the format is getting unpopular with fans becoming more interested in T20 cricket.
“We believe strongly that ODIs should be World Cups only,” the former cricket said. We think it’s difficult bilaterally now to justify them. They’re not filling grounds in a lot of countries. And there is a power at the moment to T20 cricket that is almost supernatural.”
He said T20 cricket is getting popular as people want to own franchises and players are keen to play league cricket.
“It’s more than just ticket sales. It’s the amount of people that want to own franchises, the amount of countries that want to run tournaments, it’s the amount of players that want to be in a market all around the world,” he said.
He added, “In a free market, the most money wins and that’s just the end-game. The players can see that bubbling away and they want to be a part of it. So, it is an extraordinary power that T20 has, and I think scheduling 50-over cricket alongside it just continues the story of the death knell of the ODI game.”
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India begins as defending champions England taking on New Zealand in Ahmedabad on October 5th. The fixture will be a repeat of the 2019 final.
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