After just over 4000 fans attended the recent final One-Day International (ODI) match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia’s legendary pace bowler Glenn McGrath expressed concern regarding the future of the 50-over format. Even though the Australians had already won the series, the massive MCG stadium, which has a lot of seats, has always had a lot of people there. Mcgrath is even more concerned by the fact that the most recent T20 World Cup final was attended by 80,462 fans at the same location. 

The ODI format’s future is in jeopardy as a result of the growth of the T20 format and a desire to preserve the class of the Test format. Already, numerous well-known cricketers are opting out of the format.Britain Test commander Ben Stirs up arose as the new huge name to call time on his ODI profession.

“It was so disappointing to see crowds like that, ODIs are really under the pump at the moment. Melbourne is classed as the sporting capital of Australia, if not the world, they absolutely love their sport. So for them to turn out in the numbers they did speaks volumes about where we’re at,”

told Mcgrath as quoted by Cricket 365 while speaking on the future of the format.  

It was treat to watch Australia whitewashing England in the same time handing them their biggest ever lost in ODI. #AUSvENG #AUSvsENG pic.twitter.com/l5xXHnLToA

— Muhammad Youasf (@M_YousafPak) November 22, 2022

I would still put the ODI World Cup as more important than the T20: Glenn Mcgrath 

Glenn Mcgrath went on to pick the scheduling as one of the reasons for the concerns over the 50-over format and explained how every format needs due respect.  

“The international schedule is tough enough. I think they have to respect every series and every game, it has to mean something.”

he said.

While recalling his experiences at the ODI World Cup, he went on to discuss the significance of preventing the 50-over format from stagnating and expressed his hope that it would regain its fans.

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“We’ve got to protect the game. T20 cricket is always growing, it’s fast, quick, and exciting and Test cricket really is the ultimate. I think those two formats will stand the test of time. I do hope ODI cricket carries on, I’ve got a lot of great memories of it and I would still put the ODI World Cup as more important than the T20. But the format is under the pump and we need to look at how we keep people coming to these games.”

Mcgrath concluded.