One-day Cricket to Stay For Long Says ICC

Mumbai: The International Cricket Council on Thursday sought to allay concerns over the relevance of the 50-over ODIs in the wake of the huge popularity enjoyed by the shortened Twenty20 games and said both the formats were here to stay.

"ODIs have been there for a number of years and Test cricket is alive and well as is shown by the difficulty in getting tickets for the Oval Test (for the series-deciding Ashes contest between England and Australia)", said ICC's general manager, commercial, Campbell Jamieson.

"We have just added a new format (T20) and need to find the right balance (in playing the three types). But like in any sport the nation v nation contests bring out the best in players," he said at the unveiling ceremony of the ICC Champions Trophy which starts in South Africa on September 22.

Cricketer Dinesh Karthik, who was scheduled to do the unveiling at the Reliance Centre, could not make it due to "unavoidable circumstances".

Australian spin legend Shane Warne has recently called for the dumping of the 50-over game and advocated it to be replaced totally by T20 games.

Campbell insisted that the enthusiasm for the 50-over event, carrying a total prize fund of USD 4 million with the winnners and runners-up entitled for USD 2 and 1 million respectively, was high in South Africa.