ODIs face their biggest Test

UMPIRE'S POST

The leisurely form of cricket is revitalised, while Twenty20 is faster and more furious.

The 50-over one-day international game, which is about 38 years old, is beginning to resemble its practitioners at that age: tired and fading.

If the game's administrators do not do something quick and drastic, we will soon be left with two international formats, neither of which will be the ODI.

Test cricket seems insulated from the threat of Twenty20. That is an irony, since it was expected to be the first cricket format to disappear. For about 15 years till the late 1990s, it appeared that Test matches would be killed by ODIs.

The administrators did little to save it; they were too happy counting the money that ODIs were raking in. The rescue effort came from Steve Waugh's team and the influence of, ironically again, ODIs.

Waugh's Australians nearly removed from the equation the draw as a result option. They would regularly score at four an over or more. The ODI influence improved the fielding, disciplined the bowling, and made batsmen more run-oriented.

That resulted in many exciting rivalries in Test matches in the last decade or so: to name some, Australia-West Indies, Australia-India, India-Pakistan (all three tests on India's "friendship tour" tour to Pakistan in 2004 produced results, unlike the dreary draws the two rivals used to play). As a pleasant surprise, Tests enjoy a loyal following among players and spectators.

In the same period, ODIs have remained largely unchanged. The changes that took place either had to be quickly abandoned (such as the "super sub" rule) or have had limited impact (power play).

What we therefore have is a predictable pattern of exciting early and end overs and dull middle overs. That is why Twenty20's biggest threat is to ODIs.

In a nutshell, the Twenty20 format is largely an ODI with the middle overs taken out. As a consequence, the ODI loyalist, who was anyway not paying much attention during the middle overs, will find it easy to switch to the newest format. After all, it is the same stuff, only devoid of the boring part.

For some time, it seemed that commerce would save ODIs. It is the most advertiser-friendly format in any sport. A commercial break after each of the 100 overs and prolonged ones at the fall of wickets and during drinks and lunch intervals are the stuff media buying dreams are made of.

But BCCI's Indian Premier League has changed this notion in a short two months. The money shelled out for franchises, players and broadcast rights has taken the game to another level. What exactly is at play here will take some unravelling. To be sure, this is not the last column on the subject.