ICC planning a major revamp in ODI format

The International Cricket Council (ICC), in an attempt to give 50 overs cricket a new relevance, is planning to form a league style format featuring 13 international teams, The Telegraph reports.

The plans, which will be discussed at the ICC’s annual general meeting later this month at Edinburgh, will come into force from 2019 and are aimed at finally giving context to bilateral tours.

According to plans, it is proposed that the teams will play a three-match series, either home or away, against every other country. A total of 36 ODIs each will be played over a three-year basis. The fourth year of each cycle would be reserved for World Cup preparation.

This will help generate more interest and revenue from broadcasters in bilateral series, which have lost value in recent years. ODI cricket is currently finding it bit difficult to gain spectators interest.

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According to the ICC, the teams will be free to play each other more times if they so wished, but clarified that the results of such bilateral ties will not be taken into consideration for the league ranking.

Whether the proposed changes to international cricket will be accepted remains unanswered for now though the wait is a short one as the matter will be discussed in depth at the ICC’s annual conference, which begins in Edinburgh at the end of the month.

The associate nations are also set to benefit from the schedule with Ireland, Scotland and Afghanistan becoming the obvious beneficiaries.