The ICC's chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, said on the eve of the World Cup semi-finals that cricket had narrowly averted killing the 50-over game by repeating the mistake made famous by Gerald Ratner and presenting its product as rubbish.
Instead, as Sri Lanka prepared to face New Zealand at the Premadasa Stadium in the first, and the less celebrated, of the two semi-finals, Lorgat said the World Cup had proved that 50-over cricket was "alive and well."
Ratner made one of the most celebrated corporate misjudgments in history when he joked to the Institute of Directors almost 20 years ago that many of the products in his jewellery shops were "total crap" and that his earrings were "cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long". He almost bankrupted his own company in days.
Lorgat, in a speech to the Sri Lankan press club, quoted a column by The Guardian's cricket correspondent, Mike Selvey, after Sachin Tendulkar had scored the first double hundred in one-day cricket for India against South Africa in Gwalior last year. It was, said Lorgat, a significant moment, proof to him that the 50-over game needed "no more gimmicks or tinkering".
Selvey wrote of Tendulkar's innings: "It is those lingering memories that sustain the argument for 50-over cricket, while T20, brilliant as it can be, is essentially transient: sweet and tasty but gone in a flash, like candyfloss. In 50 overs, there is time for the essential narrative of cricket to unfold."
Lorgat said: "Key administrators around the world were either wanting to or actually tinkering with the format of 50-over cricket. Some were reducing to 40 overs; others wanted to trial split innings while some had even more extreme thoughts.
"As a game we were self-inflicting a crisis on 50-over cricket. It reminded me of a British jeweler who [once] pronounced that his merchandise was rubbish. He simply talked himself out of business.
"A year ago we were in danger of doing the same to our much-loved 50-over cricket. The more we talked of a game in crisis the more we created the crisis and the more we fuelled talk of doom and despondency. A vicious circle. And all the time there was no real evidence of a crisis."
Lorgat suggested that television had attracted record audiences in this World Cup and the India v England match in Bengaluru had been the most-watched game in the history of ODIs. "It doesn't take a genius to predict that when India face Pakistan in Mohali that record may well be smashed."
Only in England, said Lorgat, did research show that 50-over cricket was less popular than Test and Twenty20 cricket – and even there it had a fan base of 16 million. "Not only is 50-over cricket far from death row, it has a strong and vibrant future," he said, adding that the introduction of an ODI League, to run between triennial World Cups, would soon reduce the number of meaningless one-day internationals.
Sri Lanka and New Zealand have quite a billing to live up to, with Sri Lanka regarded as favourites to advance to the final after their 10-wicket demolition of England in Saturday's quarter-final. They plan to use the same pitch; excruciatingly slow the first time, it is not about to quicken up.
New Zealand have reached the World Cup semi-final on five previous occasions and have lost the lot. In the months before the World Cup, they were soundly beaten in all three World Cup countries. Mark Greatbatch stood down as coach and the old campaigner John Wright returned. No one even spoke of them as dark horses this time around but when least expected they are the only non-Asian team in the last four.
Instead, as Sri Lanka prepared to face New Zealand at the Premadasa Stadium in the first, and the less celebrated, of the two semi-finals, Lorgat said the World Cup had proved that 50-over cricket was "alive and well."
Ratner made one of the most celebrated corporate misjudgments in history when he joked to the Institute of Directors almost 20 years ago that many of the products in his jewellery shops were "total crap" and that his earrings were "cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long". He almost bankrupted his own company in days.
Lorgat, in a speech to the Sri Lankan press club, quoted a column by The Guardian's cricket correspondent, Mike Selvey, after Sachin Tendulkar had scored the first double hundred in one-day cricket for India against South Africa in Gwalior last year. It was, said Lorgat, a significant moment, proof to him that the 50-over game needed "no more gimmicks or tinkering".
Selvey wrote of Tendulkar's innings: "It is those lingering memories that sustain the argument for 50-over cricket, while T20, brilliant as it can be, is essentially transient: sweet and tasty but gone in a flash, like candyfloss. In 50 overs, there is time for the essential narrative of cricket to unfold."
Lorgat said: "Key administrators around the world were either wanting to or actually tinkering with the format of 50-over cricket. Some were reducing to 40 overs; others wanted to trial split innings while some had even more extreme thoughts.
"As a game we were self-inflicting a crisis on 50-over cricket. It reminded me of a British jeweler who [once] pronounced that his merchandise was rubbish. He simply talked himself out of business.
"A year ago we were in danger of doing the same to our much-loved 50-over cricket. The more we talked of a game in crisis the more we created the crisis and the more we fuelled talk of doom and despondency. A vicious circle. And all the time there was no real evidence of a crisis."
Lorgat suggested that television had attracted record audiences in this World Cup and the India v England match in Bengaluru had been the most-watched game in the history of ODIs. "It doesn't take a genius to predict that when India face Pakistan in Mohali that record may well be smashed."
Only in England, said Lorgat, did research show that 50-over cricket was less popular than Test and Twenty20 cricket – and even there it had a fan base of 16 million. "Not only is 50-over cricket far from death row, it has a strong and vibrant future," he said, adding that the introduction of an ODI League, to run between triennial World Cups, would soon reduce the number of meaningless one-day internationals.
Sri Lanka and New Zealand have quite a billing to live up to, with Sri Lanka regarded as favourites to advance to the final after their 10-wicket demolition of England in Saturday's quarter-final. They plan to use the same pitch; excruciatingly slow the first time, it is not about to quicken up.
New Zealand have reached the World Cup semi-final on five previous occasions and have lost the lot. In the months before the World Cup, they were soundly beaten in all three World Cup countries. Mark Greatbatch stood down as coach and the old campaigner John Wright returned. No one even spoke of them as dark horses this time around but when least expected they are the only non-Asian team in the last four.
