Haren
With defending world champions Australia resting skipper Pat Cummins and four more players in the ODI series-decider against Pakistan on Sunday, former Australian opener Mark Waugh believes that One-Day International will soon be “phased out’ with the format only played in major ODI tournaments. While Australia lost the three-match ODI series against Pakistan 1-2, many former Australian cricketers including Michael Clarke and Ian Healey had questioned the decision to rest key players. But Waugh believes that ODI cricket outside of big events will be “phased out”.
“The World Cup and the Champions Trophies are still great events. The last World Cup in India was an amazing tournament, not just because Australia won. I still think it’s a fantastic tournament and it’s a great format because it combines a bit of T20 and Test match cricket in the 50-over game. You don’t want to lose the 50-over game completely. But given the scheduling of all these T20 tournaments around now and with scheduling, it’s squeezing out 50-over bilateral series. I think it will get phased out. I think that’s probably the way to go.” said Taylor while speaking with news.com.au.
Australia had suffered their first home ODI series against Pakistan in last 22 years as they lost the third ODI against Pakistan by eight wickets. While Australia play in a three-match T20I series against the Pakistan starting Thursday, Taylor believes that bilateral ODI series can only happen in the lead up to big events in future. “When you get towards these big tournaments like a World Cup, then you might introduce some more games like a bilateral series as lead-ups. But in between, what we’ve just seen with the three-match series — great for Pakistan obviously to win the series but I don’t think it’s going to be the highlight of the cricket season. It will probably be quickly forgotten because it was just squeezed in the middle of nowhere. I don’t have the answer with scheduling but I think you’ll find these sorts of series will be phased out,” added Taylor.
Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley has defended the decision to rest key players for the third ODI match and insisted that all formats of international cricket were “absolutely a priority”. “It’s absolutely a priority … I think you saw the disappointment on (acting captain) Josh Inglis’ face after the third (game). We go out to win every game and every series. The reality of the Australian set-up is we’re fortunate to have probably more all-format players than any other country. We have been criticised in the past for not giving new players an opportunity to come in. I think there was a plan in place, and that plan was to make sure our all-format players were in peak condition for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series,” Hockley told the media.
