Black Caps’ ODI drought after Bangladesh series to become the norm as T20 takes over

There are increasingly few chances for Kane Williamson's side to recapture the magic of Lord's. Photo / Photosport

OPINION

Make the most of today’s dead rubber against Bangladesh – it will quicken few pulses but may be the Black Caps’ last ODI for 11 months.

A format that filled many home summers will go largely ignored through 2024, with New Zealand’s next ODI series currently scheduled for a trip to Sri Lanka in November.

Unfortunately for fans raised on a steady diet of 50-over cricket, the layoff is reflective of where the international game has long been trending. It’s also understandable, if exceptional in length, at the conclusion of an ODI World Cup cycle – and with another T20 showpiece fast approaching.

The Black Caps enjoyed seven-month ODI breaks following World Cups in 2007, 2011 and 2019. Conversely, they had only two months away from the format after a disappointing 2003 campaign and, mercifully, waited less than three months before banishing the bad memories of Melbourne in 2015.

Setting aside the Covid-plagued days of 2020-22 – when the team twice went a full year between ODIs – there has been no equivalent layoff in the last 30 years. A winter break is not unusual but only twice has an ODI drought reached even nine months, in 1993 and 2014.

A series could yet be added to the calendar following next year’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States. After that tournament in June, New Zealand’s current schedule is empty for two months, before an inaugural test against Afghanistan precedes test series in Sri Lanka and India.

But there is hardly a pressing need to return to ODI cricket, not when we’ve reached a stage in the international game where skipper Kane Williamson is among six players resting from a home series, concluding today at McLean Park.

Too many ODI series are undermined by stakes that are too low, and while the same could well be said of 20-over cricket, that format is increasingly favoured by broadcasters at least. Considering the revenue they provide powerbrokers, and considering franchise cricket also enriches the workforce, a drift towards T20s as the dominant white-ball form is no great shock.

The future of the ODI game may feature long periods of dormancy followed by reemergence in the months before major tournaments. Indeed, the Black Caps’ next home summer will bring more focus on 50-over cricket ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

That could lead to variance at big events: defending champions England flopped at this year’s World Cup after playing only five ODIs in seven months before the tournament. But such a scenario concerned Black Caps coach Gary Stead when assessing its impact on developing nations, given T20 cricket by definition offers fewer overs in the middle.

And for many fans, particularly those of us whose developing brains weren’t broken by the internet, having a hit and giggle will never hold the appeal of a classic one-day match. A T20 is too easily swayed by one player having a good day; an ODI is generally replete with setbacks and recoveries, periods of patience interrupted by explosions of action.

But there’s little point in an old man yelling at this ominous cloud. It ain’t going anywhere.

Kris Shannon has been a sports journalist since 2011 and covers a variety of codes for the Herald. Reporting on Grant Elliott’s six at Eden Park in 2015 was a career highlight.