Allan Border Wants Twenty20 Internationals Restricted

A file pic of Allan Border.

Former great Allan Border feels a proliferation of T20 internationals could kill the 50-over format. One of the most successful Test captains in the history of the game, Border wants an end to Twenty20 internationals outside a biennial World Cup organized by the ICC.

Speaking on ABC Radio, Border said: "I wouldn't be playing T20 international cricket at all, I would save that for a World Cup every two years.

"I think there is enough domestic Twenty20 cricket to fill the programme out quite nicely. We've got the Big Bash, there's the IPL, there's Twenty20 competitions in basically every country."

"Why we have to play international Twenty20 cricket as well as that, I don't necessarily agree with."

Months ahead of the ICC World Cup, Border feels the 50-over format should not be allowed to "wither and die," as it offers both excitement and the scope to test cricketing skills.

"I'd hate to see the 50-over game wither and die, I really think it's a wonderful game of cricket and I think the World Cup coming up in Australia and New Zealand will be an absolute ripper," he said.

"I think that would be a shame, I think the 50-over game is a superior game to 20-over cricket.

"I prefer the 50-over game as far as the ebb and flow, the bowler is in the contest a little more, and you can have little periods where you bat or bowl yourself out of the game and then bat or bowl yourself back into the game. That's very difficult to do in 20-over cricket."

Australia's domestic international season began last week when they played three T20s against South Africa with both sides fielding weakened sides in front of disappointing crowds.

To follow that are a five-match ODI series against the Proteas, a four-Test series against India, a triangular ODI series also featuring India and England as well as the February 14-March 29 one-day World Cup.

(With agency inputs)