Icc To Trial New One-day Format

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has agreed to conduct an experiment to split one-day matches into two innings of 25 overs for each team.

ICC cricket manager Dave Richardson said a trial could be introduced soon although no formal plans have as yet been agreed.

‘I quite like that idea, I believe South Africa may trial something along those lines. This might work in day/night cricket where one team has to bat in day and the other at night.

‘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.’

Richardson revealed the concept of two 25-over innings had been proposed a number of times and resurfaced once again at the ICC’s cricket committee annual meeting at Lord’s in May.

The proposal could breathe new life into the limited overs format, which has been increasingly threatened by the meteoric rise in popularity of Twenty20 cricket.

The concept is that two innings of 25 overs would create new strategies and drastically reduce the influence of winning the toss in favourable conditions.

South Africa looks set to trial the changes during one of the rounds of its domestic season, although a Cricket South Africa spokesman said the matter was still in discussion and no firm dates have been set.

The ICC’s cricket committee is set to meet again in 2010 when the results of the experiment will be discussed.