County cricket can’t stomach 50 overs
Forty-over cricket is considered so important by the ECB Counties that they have decided to go one step further than simply scrapping their 50-over competition to protect it. Now, the ECB is asking the ICC to change the international 50-over format on their behalf.
13 of 18 counties voted for the 40 over format next season, meaning that their will be no equivalent to ODIs in our domestic format. All this is due to money, as always with the English game. On the other hand, England have been scheduled to play 13 ODIs next summer, against Bangladesh, Pakistan and Australia so there is still much flogging of dead horses to be done.
Whatever happens, 50 over cricket is doomed, and won’t be much missed. The format is stale, particularly in the middle overs, and has become stuck betwixt and between Test and Twenty20. Neither exiting nor exacting enough. And Shane Warne has started sledging it, which guarantees it will soon be bowled behind it’s legs.
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