London, June 21 (IANS) The One-day international (ODI) clash between Australia and England in Southampton Tuesday will be the 3,000th ODI and International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the limited-overs format is far from reaching its end.
ODI cricket has been facing a threat from Twenty20 cricket.
The first recognised ODI took place in Melbourne Jan 5 in 1971 and it was also between Australia and England.
‘That game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was arranged at very short notice after a Test match had been washed out and nobody was really sure what would happen,’ said Lorgat.
‘When around 46,000 people showed up to watch I think the organisers realised they were on to something big. Since that day it has been hugely successful and we have been treated to some of the great moments of cricket through ODIs.
‘Centuries in World Cup finals by Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Aravinda de Silva, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist coupled with some amazing other individual performances throughout the history of the one-day game from players like Richard Hadlee, Javed Miandad, Herschelle Gibbs, Joel Garner, Muttiah Muralitharan and Graham Gooch have entertained generations of cricket fans all over the world.’
Lorgat said Indian maestro’s Sachin Tendulkar’s double hundred earlier this year shows the format still has the potential to hold on its own.
‘Even this year, Sachin Tendulkar’s double century in an ODI showed this format still had the capacity to inspire thrilling feats of brilliance from the world’s best cricketers.
‘ODIs still attract big crowds and enormous television viewing figures. The ODI series between England and Australia that gets underway tomorrow will be hugely well attended and the recent ODIs in Ireland and Scotland were also sell-outs.
‘As we prepare for the 10th staging of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka next year, the importance of this format to the game remains very high. I have no doubt the ODI will continue to adapt and evolve – in fact we always encourage our Members to trial new initiatives at domestic level to see if they work – and above all, I have no doubt the ODI will continue to strengthen long into the future,’ said Lorgat.
Over the past four decades, India has played more ODIs than any other team with 746, out of which it has won 362 and lost 347.
