To protect the ODI format from what he calls the
“supernatural” strength of T20, Mark Nicholas, the incoming president
of the MCC, has urged for 50-over cricket to be played only at World Cups.
Nicholas noted that his opinions were with those of
the MCC’s World play Committee, which convened in July and called for ODI play
to be “significantly reduced” outside of World Cup years. Nicholas
succeeded Stephen Fry this weekend as president of cricket’s oldest and most
famous members’ club.
“We believe strongly that ODIs should be World
Cups only. We think it’s difficult bilaterally now to justify them. They’re not
filling grounds in a lot of countries. And there is a power at the moment to
T20 cricket that is almost supernatural.
“It’s more than just ticket sales. It’s the
amount of people that want to own franchises, the amount of countries that want
to run tournaments, it’s the amount of players that want to be in a market all
around the world.
“In a free market, the most money wins. And
that’s just the end-game. The players can see that bubbling away and they want
to be a part of it. So, it is an extraordinary power that T20 has, and I think
scheduling 50-over cricket alongside it just continues the story of the death
knell of the ODI game.”
The issue could be one of the ways MCC makes better
use of the “soft power” that the club is still capable of wielding,
even though its days of direct involvement in the sport’s administration are
long gone. Nicholas concedes that his comments on the eve of the 2023 World Cup
are unlikely to hold much sway with the ICC unless they can be crafted into a
properly structured proposal.
“How much more relevant can MCC be?”
Nicholas added. “Is there a danger we’re losing our relevance in global
cricket thinking? Can we use our World Cricket Committee better? Can we use our
massive list of Honorary Life members, [which has] the outstanding players of
the modern era and the era before on it.
“The problem at the moment is that the ICC see us
a bit of a threat,” he said. “When we put our head above the parapet,
they’re like ‘whoa, settle down, we run the game’. So we need to integrate
better with ICC, we need to understand each other better. We need to develop
thinking that comes together.”