There Will Be A Time When 50-Over Cricket Will Be Played At World Cup Only: Michael Vaughan On Future Of ODI Cricket

Former England captain Michael Vaughan opined that there will be a period where ODI cricket will be played just once in four years.

In 2021, a year where the T20 World Cup was staged in the deserted United Arab Emirates and the inaugural World Test Championship final was held in Southampton, the focus on ODI matches by full-time ICC members was comparatively less. A total of 74 ODI matches, including the ones played by associated members, were played last year.

On the other hand, the shortest format was played on 334 occasions while there were 45 red-ball fixtures at the international stage, not to forget that associate members do not play any Test matches. India played just six ODI matches and 2019 World Cup winner England featured in nine.

50-over cricket will be played will be every four years at the World Cup: Michael Vaughan

Vaughan, who played 86 ODI matches in his nine years of international career, believes that ODI matches will be staged only in the 50-over World Cup, which takes place every four years.

“In among all that, it’s very difficult to continue with 50-over cricket as well. It might be that the only 50-over cricket that will be played will be every four years at the World Cup,” Vaughan told Ravichandran Ashwin on the latter’s YouTube Channel. 

“I know there will be die-hards who will ask how will you be good at 50-over cricket if you don’t play it? But 50-over cricket now is just an extension of T20 cricket. Players try to bat like T20 cricket for 50 overs. That’s why you see 350-400 scores regularly,” he added. 

White-ball and Red-ball Cricket is like a University course: Michael Vaughan 

Since the arrival of the World Test Championship, fans are being captivated by the intense red-ball battle between two teams in the course of five days. With the invention of the T20 format, many opportunities have opened up for players across the globe in the form of franchise T20 tournaments.

Vaughan admitted that if he was playing in the current times, he would also have enhanced his skills to become a better white-ball player. The former England skipper defined the two formats in the similar ranks of a university course, where chances to get into the red-ball format is an arduous task.

“If I were a player coming through in this era, I’d be doing exactly what the modern player is doing, trying to be as good a white-ball player as I could be. If that helped me be a good Test player, then fantastic, I’d love to be both. But it’s like a University course. There are more opportunities and jobs studying white-ball cricket than studying red-ball cricket,” Vaughan said.

“So I’ve studied four years of red-ball cricket for 11 places, or I can study white-ball cricket, and that leaves me with, phew, how many leagues are out there? There are so many leagues. The Hundred, Big Bash, the IPL, PSL, the CPL, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and T10 as well.”So studying white-ball cricket university is what you should be doing, but what I hope is happening is that the university of white-ball says that come on, there’s also this course that can add some skills as well, and that’s red-ball cricket,” he added.

Vaughan was the captain of the England team that won the 2005 Ashes at home with a 2-1 margin and it is still regarded as one of the best Test series of all time.

Also Read: Michael Vaughan Hails Australia Series Win As India’s “Best Test Victory”