“I’d hate to see the 50-over game wither and die”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Legendary Australia captain Allan Border believes that Twenty20 Internationals should only be played in a World Cup event every two years.

Border feels that this should be the case since he believes Twenty20 Internationals are responsible for the downfall of ODI cricket.

“I wouldn’t be playing T20 international cricket at all, I would save that for a World Cup every two years,” he told ABC Radio. “I think there is enough domestic Twenty20 cricket to fill the programme out quite nicely. We’ve got the Big Bash, there’s the IPL, there’s Twenty20 competitions in basically every country.

“Why we have to play international Twenty20 cricket as well as that, I don’t necessarily agree with.”

Border added that he would hate to see ODIs become a thing of the past since anything can happen in such a short period of time.

“I’d hate to see the 50-over game wither and die, I really think it’s a wonderful game of cricket and I think the World Cup coming up in Australia and New Zealand will be an absolute ripper,” he said. “I think that would be a shame, I think the 50-over game is a superior game to 20-over cricket.

“I prefer the 50-over game as far as the ebb and flow, the bowler is in the contest a little more, and you can have little periods where you bat or bowl yourself out of the game and then bat or bowl yourself back into the game. That’s very difficult to do in 20-over cricket.”