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By Neto Baptiste
West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder believes the 50-overs game has lost it’s appeal and that the ODI format is simply just existing because of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup held every four years.
Holder, who has claimed 159 wickets across 138 ODI matches and scored 2237 over the same number of showings, said that although he enjoys representing West Indies at the prestigious ICC quadrennial event, says something must change if the format is to regain the appeal it once had.
“I just think the 50-over game is really just taking up space now in the calendar and I don’t see the massive substance around 50-over cricket unless there’s a World Cup. The dilemma that I guess you’ll have with that mindset is then how do you prepare for the World Cup?. Obviously you’ve got to get bilateral series and what’s not, but I just think that 50-over cricket lacks a lot. I think the game really only gets really good at the 35-over mark. People only really wake up around the 35-over mark when, you know, you’re going into that last 15 to 10 overs. Why would I spend a whole day sitting down watching a game that’s going to be boring for 35 overs and then I get excited for 15? So I just think that something needs to be done for 50 overs cricket as well,” he said.
Holder, who led West Indies in the ODI format between 2014 and 2019, said there is “no real incentive” in playing ODI cricket outside of the World Cup which comes around every five years.
“So again, guys may not push themselves in the 50-over game because of the fact that there’s no real incentive around playing 50-over cricket outside of being involved in a World Cup. And yes, a World Cup is a prestigious thing and I really enjoy playing World Cups so yes, I would definitely play a 50-over World Cup but if you ask me to motivate myself day in, day out to get up and play 50-over cricket … I haven’t played a 50-over game since the last World Cup qualifiers and when you look at the game back then and even before then, maybe you (bowled) 10 for 60 and that’s pretty good but now you’re bowling 10 for 80, and that’s good,” the player said.
The Barbadian went on to encourage the younger generation to focus more on the longer format of the game as it is the surest way hone their talents.
“What I don’t like is the young generation – the youngsters coming through who just want to throw themselves into T20 cricket. Now, I can tell you I’ve played enough test cricket, I’ve played enough first class cricket and I’ve played enough cricket in general to know that you only really learn the game by playing the longest format of the game. So I think a lot of our youngsters really need to understand how to pace an innings, understand how to bowl consistent balls in general areas and just understand the small intricacies of the game and learn the game; you only really learn the game playing four-day cricket. I don’t think you can learn the game playing T20 cricket. If it was down to me, I’d find a way to really mandate that most of our young players play the longest format of the game because that’s the only way you’d learn it,” he said.
Holder replaced Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo as ODI captain, leading the team into the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, before being replaced in 2019 with Kieron Pollard.
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