ODI cricket alive and well

The 50-over format has merits and continues to be popular but we need fewer such games infused with greater context to ensure its survival, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

If fault there is in 50-over cricket, it lies not, for example, in the so-called boring middle overs, but in the number of ODIs that have been played over the past two decades, with little or no context, and the negative impression created by the continual quest for innovations: we are not happy with our product, seems to be the message, so why should you be? Add in a few ICC-manufactured matches that left dear old Bill Frindall and his fellow stattos shaking their heads, and the number of one-day internationals surged through the 3,000 barrier at the Rose Bowl.