by Abdul Habib
13th June 2010

Depending on who you talk to, 20-20 cricket has either been an unprecedented success or a total disaster. Those that sing its praises point to the capacity crowds and the involvement of a new generation of fans. But those who disagree point to the proliferation of T20 leagues and the early retirement of quality players from Test cricket, just so they can chase lucrative T20 contracts.

Many now fear that 50 over cricket can no longer survive in it's current format because there's too many 'dead overs' between the exciting first 20 and last 10 overs of an ODI. Several ideas have been floated including reducing ODIs to 40 overs and making bowlers bowl with their leading arm instead of their bowling arm (just kidding with that last one).

But seriously there is one idea emerging from this chaotic brainstorm that appears to be gaining favour with both players and administrators alike. This new format would split ODIs into 4 innings of 20 overs each. Sort of like a mini one-day test match under limited overs rules.

Both the English and Australian cricket boards have already announced that they will be trialling split innings one day games on their domestic circuits. It's important to bear in mind that although T20 cricket had been around for many years, it wasn't until the ECB adopted it into their domestic structure that the format really took off and became the global phenomenon that it is today.

So if split over one day games take off in the home of cricket then it won't be long before other domestic leagues try out the new format as well. John Barclay is the President of the MCC and he told Cricistan.com that he's open to the idea of innovation in limited overs cricket.

"It'll be interesting to see how the split innings trial in grade II cricket works. I don't believe in change for the sake of change but I think we can and should have pilot schemes and trials at Grade II and Club level. This will give us a chance to see how these ideas work in practise and we can use the feedback from both the players and the fans to see if this new format has any legs. If the players and spectators dont like the new format then there's no point in going ahead with it just because it looks good on paper. However if it proves to be popular and takes off at the lower levels then there's no harm in trying it out at first class level too." John Barclay told Cricistan.com.

And the MCC President isn't the only one who's behind this idea. Recently India's Sachin Tendulkar also put himself behind this new format saying that he'd like to see it being given a go.

So it's quite possible that those of us who grew up with the 50 over game may be witnessing our last 50 over World Cup in 2011. There's barely room for 3 formats in International cricket so if split innings is to succeed then another format will have to make way and it's not going to be Test or T20 cricket, is it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwBIlMWCLfc