CHENNAI, India, (Reuters) – The International Cricket Council (ICC) is open to the concept of split innings in one-day cricket to help spice up the format in the face of Twenty20’s increasing popularity.
“I quite like that idea, I believe South Africa may trial something along those lines,” ICC cricket manager Dave Richardson told the BBC yesterday.
“It provides something different and reduces the effects on the team who loses the toss and has to bat first on a damp wicket, for example.”
India’s leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar said last week that two 25 overs innigns each would lend more balance to 50-overs games.
Former South Africa test player Richardson said the concept of two 25-overs innings had come up at the ICC’s cricket committee’s annual meeting in May.
“The bottom line is if we can come up with a product that is better than the existing one, then everyone would like to look at it,” he said.
“If it has been trialled successfully at domestic level, it may (get) the go-ahead at international level.
“The ICC has been proactive with ideas and innovations, like the powerplays. The idea of the ‘super-sub’ wasn’t as successful and got rid of quite quickly.
“One of the criticisms was that we trialled things at international as opposed to domestic level.
“Our tactics going forward are member countries trial changes first domestically and if they are successful, then we can take them on board at the international level.”
