Jonty Rhodes believes that while the 50-over World Cup will continue to be relevant, One-Day cricket is in danger and bilateral ODI series will be pushed to the limit.
Speaking at the Rotterdam Dockers team’s jersey unveiling in Mumbai, Rhodes, a co-owner of the ETPL, stated, “When T20 cricket first started, people were saying, well, it’s going to put pressure on Test cricket.” Surprisingly, it hasn’t.
However, it was always clear to me that 50-over cricket would be the one format where problems could arise in the coming years because we bring in such a new audience and a different viewpoint to the game.
“So, whether it’s a T20 or 50-over, I think there’s still a lot of potential and it’s such an exciting opportunity to play in a cricket World Cup.” It’s really hard to imagine cricket without the 50-over version, but at this point, I believe there will be fewer and fewer bilateral series featuring a lot of 50-over cricket.
The next ODI World Cup will be held in South Africa, and Rhodes stated that the nation is excited to host the world and hopes to win the trophy.
Despite being the reigning World Test champions, the Proteas have never taken home an ICC white-ball title.
From the 2010 Football World Cup, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and the 2007 T20 World Cup—there was a team that won that in 2007, what a fantastic team!—I believe everyone who has travelled to South Africa to watch cricket has had a terrific time. As a result, we South Africans are excited to host it.
“I believe that World Cup cricket is such a unique event that everyone who attends will have a great time.” However, I believe there are a few issues that we would like to resolve as the hosting South African team. Winning an ICC limited-overs trophy is undoubtedly one of those.
