Bollinger backing ODIs

Fast bowler insists future of 50-over cricket is not in threat

By James Mason   Last updated: 8th February 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bollinger backing ODIs

Bollinger: Confident about one-day future

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Australia fast bowler Doug Bollinger insists that the future of one-day cricket is not under threat despite a drop in crowd figures.

Since the arrival of Twenty20 internationals the longer formats of the game have begun to suffer, with the public favouring the shortened format.

Crowd figures at Test and one-day matches have dropped considerably, with just 24,463 people turning up to the opening international between Australia and the West Indies.

In stark contrast, the T20 game between Pakistan and Australia at the MCG saw an attendance of 60,054.

Despite the poor attendances, Bollinger still believes the 50-over game has a future.

He said: "I think 50-over cricket's great. As I said we had a great series against Pakistan and we've only just started against the West Indies.

Overreaction

"I think coming to Adelaide tomorrow it's going to be a great game and I'm sure there'll be a big crowd there.

"I think 50-over cricket's a great game and it will be there for a long time."

Although there has been a growing belief one-day matches are close to dying, Bollinger feels that this is just an overreaction.

He added: "A crowd's a crowd. It's been a great summer with the Pakistan series and we've had great crowds the whole time so it wasn't a bad thing.

"I'm just happy people came out and watched us. I think it is (an overreaction) because people have got things to do and if they don't want to come to the cricket well we can't do much about that.

"But we're glad we had so many people come out yesterday and really enjoy themselves."

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