‘Not sustainable, it’s long and boring’ – Moeen Ali on ODI cricket’s future

“Something has to be done because I fear losing the 50-over format in a couple of years because it’s almost like the long, boring on,” said Moeen.

Senior England all-rounder Moeen Ali has become the latest active cricketer to predict the demise of ODI cricket. Commenting on the 50-over format, he said that it is nothing more than a “long” and “boring” format that has got no importance at the moment.

Many of the past and present cricketers have predicted that ODIs have no future. Notably, star England all-rounder Ben Stokes shockingly announced his ODI retirement last month stating the hectic cricketing schedule and his inability to give a 100% in the format.

There’s no importance given to it at the moment: Moeen Ali

“At the moment it’s not sustainable in my opinion. Something has to be done because I fear losing the 50-over format in a couple of years because it’s almost like the long, boring one, if that makes sense. It’s almost like you’ve got T20s, you’ve got the Test matches which are great and then the 50 overs is just in the middle – there’s no importance given to it at the moment”, said Moeen Ali as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“International cricket in all three formats is by far the best cricket to play. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “But I do worry there are so many tournaments out there that players are retiring more now – and you’ll see more retiring soon – because of overlapping schedules”, he added.

Moeen currently makes himself available for selection only in England’s white-ball series having announced his retirement from Test cricket last September. He is captaining  Birmingham Phoenix in the ongoing The Hundred 2022.

In July, England played 12 white-ball matches over a span of 25 days as they hosted India and South Africa in three ODIs and T20Is. The Three Lions failed to win either of the series, as they lost the T20I and One Day International series to the Rohit Sharma-led side 2-1; they tied the ODIs with Proteas 1-1 before going down 2-1 in the shortest format.