Scrap one-dayers, says Shane Warne
Twenty20 has made ODI irrelevant and the 50-over format should be done away with, according to spin great Shane Warne. “I’ll say it again, one-day cricket should go. It has evolved into Twenty20,” wrote Warne in his column for Herald Sun.
“Cricket only needs two forms of the game. Something needs to be done about scheduling: it’s been going on for too long,” he said.
The leg-spinner remains a staunch supporter of the Twenty20 format and believes one-dayers simply has no business in the international calendar. He was also quite vocal of Australia’s post-Ashes schedule. “Unfortunately, Australia now plays a series of ridiculous limited-overs matches against England, and then more one-dayers in South Africa and India, before the next Test in Brisbane in November. It is a joke that any international team has to play seven ODIs after a five-Test series against the same team. There are only nine Tests between now and the next Ashes series in Australia at the end of next year, but a ludicrous number of one-day cricket in the same period,” he added.
The spin legend said Ashes defeat did hurt him Dwelling on Ashes, Warne said it hurt him to see the side lose the urn.
“It hurts. It hurts a bloody lot losing the Ashes. I really felt for Ricky Ponting and the Australian team after seeing Andrew Strauss lift the little urn at The Oval. It took me back to Michael Vaughan doing the same in 2005, and how it felt to lose the Ashes for the first time in my career. I understand how all the Australian players must have felt,” Warne said.
“The vultures are circling and looking for answers, but to me it’s pointless and destructive to sling criticism about why we lost the Ashes. It is more constructive for those in charge to work out how to move forward. Many members of this team were playing in their first Ashes series, but there comes a time when the transition period is over. How long is that period?” he asked.
From legends being skeptical about the presence of Tests to some openly voicing against ODIs, it surely looks like Twenty20 will gain more from all quarters.
