ODI Cricket's Future

[gbatman]

Just wondering where people think the future of one day international cricket is. Personally I don't mind it but then again I will watch any cricket but the general public seem to be off the game a bit. Certantly in terms of attendance, not sure on TV ratings however.

There has been talk about changing the length of the game. I think James Brayshaw has suggested 30 overs, which I think is too close to T20 cricket and would produce a much similar game. It also has been a format which teams use as a doorway into test cricket and shortening it too much might change the game too much for this.

Personally I think Australia's scheduling of ODI cricket this season has been poor. The day night obsession needs to end. No one wants to be leaving a sporting venue at 11:30pm on a Sunday night with work the next day. Save the day nighters for Friday and Saturday cricket and play day matches on Sunday. Where is the common sence?

Also in regards to the length of the game, I think that 40 overs would be fine. It would help shorten the slow patch in the middle of the innings that seems to bore people a bit. It is the length of a lot of one day cricket in local competition and seems a good format of cricket and would keep the games mix of big hitting, proper stroke play and the balane between batting and bowling in balance.

What are others thoughts?

 

[Kram]

Won't happen but I'd actually look at reducing it to 40 overs but still keep 10 overs allowed per bowler.

Would lessen the 'stand off' that usually happens through the middle overs when teams go into consolidation mode and produce a better contest between bat and ball, would also hopefully see a reduction in teams picking crappy 'pseudo' all-rounders.

 

[Cousin Jed]

Personally I think Australia's scheduling of ODI cricket this season has been poor. The day night obsession needs to end. No one wants to be leaving a sporting venue at 11:30pm on a Sunday night with work the next day. Save the day nighters for Friday and Saturday cricket and play day matches on Sunday. Where is the common sence?


What are others thoughts?

I'll give you 1.1 million reasons why they have day nighter's on a Sunday night.

TV ratings are still strong. Whilst that remains the case I can't see much changing.

 

[IrishLough]

Personally I'd like to see CA give the World Series another crack, albeit a tad shorter than the ones we used to get. Interest in ODIs really seemed to drop off attendance wise once those were no longer a regular fixture. If you had quality sides here like England or South Africa playing each other in neutral games I'm sure people would go along and watch if the price of tickets was reduced a bit. Then of course you have sides like New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka with large migrant communities supporting them here. I really can't see any reason why they wouldn't reimplement it to be honest.

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the days of one dayers being scattered around the the test series. I realise we'll probably never see it again, but it was just epic to have a touring test team here for 2-3 months battling it out in a mixture of tests and one dayers. To be honest, once the tests are over my brain completely forgets about cricket and I've barely seen any of the one dayers this year.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the days of one dayers being scattered around the the test series. I realise we'll probably never see it again, but it was just epic to have a touring test team here for 2-3 months battling it out in a mixture of tests and one dayers. To be honest, once the tests are over my brain completely forgets about cricket and I've barely seen any of the one dayers this year.

Is it time to reverse the calendar?
A few one dayers in November and December, a tour game or two and then Boxing Day becomes the opening Test of the summer. More people have January off than November, enabling daytime cricket to get crowds and the first limited overs day-nighters would be in the ratings period.
Plus the one day games build into the climax, rather than the important stuff being over and no care for the remainder. (Probably not an option until after the world cup summer, by which time no doubt day/night Tests will be upon us whether the ball and grounds are suitable or not.)

 

[gbatman]

That is a good point, with the cricket season the main act does come on before the support act. I have to admit that I follow the test matches much more strongly than the other formats. Might help to reduce one sided test matches that we can often get against subcontinent teams here if they are allowed more time to acclimate to Australian conditions before the tests start too.

 

[Kram]

I guess that they would always like to have the GABBA Test very early in the season though as it's a fair bit less likely to rain.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I guess that they would always like to have the GABBA Test very early in the season though as it's a fair bit less likely to rain.

Weather considerations are a fair point.

Average days with rain in Brisbane (from www.bom.gov.au)

Mean number of days >1mm rain
January 8.3
February 10.1
November 8.3

There is a difference though when looking at >25mm
January 1.9
February 1.6
November 1.1

I reckon if Brisbane was next after Sydney it would be alright. Adelaide could get the Australia Day Test back too.

Its just an idea, and one I am sure has occurred to CA; so there are no doubt good reasons against it. The difference in Brisbane weather may be one. Nine preferring one day games over January is probably one as well.

 

[Cleavy]

Personally I'd like to see CA give the World Series another crack, albeit a tad shorter than the ones we used to get. Interest in ODIs really seemed to drop off attendance wise once those were no longer a regular fixture. If you had quality sides here like England or South Africa playing each other in neutral games I'm sure people would go along and watch if the price of tickets was reduced a bit. Then of course you have sides like New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka with large migrant communities supporting them here. I really can't see any reason why they wouldn't reimplement it to be honest.

doesn't it cause issues with the FTP calendar, that we have to reciprocate games to the neutral teams?

 

[Wallaby]

It's TV. Forget everything about crowds, scheduling, neutral games - just focus on one point - 'How do I get the best TV ratings for my advertisers?'.

Test Cricket does not rate on TV as well as ODI/T20 - so it makes sense to put the ODIs on when most people are off work able to watch TV - ie Tests in November/December/Christmas-New Year, ODIs in Jan/Feb. ODIs also give you more TV time at prime time (very few people watch the morning session of test matches, even when they have the day off). Night ODIs are brilliant ratings earners (and Sunday Night has always been a 'Flop down in front of the Telly' night).

The best way to 'save' Test Cricket and give it the priority we all think it deserves is to play night Test Cricket. Then the TV networks in Australia will pay it the required attention.

This argument has nothing to do with the relative quality of Test cricket vs ODIs, nothing to do with the overall interest in Test Cricket vs ODIs - it's just bums on couches.

 

[FRUMPY]

I love ODI's. Nothing better than sitting around on a sunday watching from 2pm-11pm with a couple of beers watching the aussies go about it. Also great to come home from work, watch the last 10 overs of the first inning and then the remainder that night.

The change of rules to 2 new balls has made the bowlers more damaging up front and the less fielders outside of the circle means more 4s can be hit during the latter part of the innings. Scores are more around the 250 mark which usually makes for better games.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

The day night obsession needs to end. No one wants to be leaving a sporting venue at 11:30pm

What games ended at 11.30pm?

Will starting ODI games at whatever in morning will help crowds or ratings?

 

[Jackfrost]

The WACA ODI used to be the biggest day on the calendar for me. Stopped taking a real interest in ODIs about the same time as the Australian selectors. The number of times our big guns have been 'rested' for a WACA match has also put me off going to the game. Now it's all about Tests.

 

[pluga_4]

aussies dont have a huge amouint of one day cricket before the world cup

2013 in england: champions trophy : 3-5 games depending on how far we progress
2013 in england : 1 v scotland, 5 v england
2013 in india: 7 v india
2013/14 in australia: 5 v england
2014: in zimbabwe : 3 v zimbabwe
2014/15 in australia: 5 v south africa
2014/15 in australia: tri series eng/ind (warm up for world cup)
and anything that may get scheduled in which is unlikely.

so thats about 30 - 40 odi's at best to get games into the likes of the guys who were tried out this summer.

interesting to note we only really play the big guns up until then (sa/eng/ind)