Empty MCG for ‘meaningless’ Australia vs West Indies ODI a sign of one-day scheduling muddle

Friday was a perfect Melbourne day — and while only 20,000 rocked up to watch an ODI at the MCG, that didn’t concern the big wigs. The fact it wasn’t cause for alarm about how the format is treated, DANIEL CHERNY writes.

The worrying bit for one-day cricket wasn’t that the MCG was 80 per cent empty for Friday’s clash of Australia and the West Indies.

It was that such a turnout wasn’t that bad all things considered.

So diminished has the place of bilateral one-dayers become within the cultural Zeitgeist, a crowd of around 20,000 on a work and school day was solid enough.

The top deck of the ground was closed, as was the entire Ponsford Stand. Had the crowd been spread evenly around the 100,000-seat stadium it would have been hard to generate atmosphere, but given fans were only able to access around half the ground there was still a bit of a buzz in the air, especially as Xavier Bartlett ran thro ugh the Windies top order.

There had been some hand-wringing in the lead-up to this match about the resting of top players and then the call not to pick Victorian products Jake Fraser-McGurk or Will Sutherland to play on their home ground.

The MCG was largely empty during the Australia vs West Indies clash on Friday. Picture: Martin Keep / AFP.

And the presence of one or both of those, or Glenn Maxwell, may have pulled an extra few thousand for a match that also clashed with Friday evening junior cricket leagues.

But any of those would have been icing on a rice cake.

The underlying issue is not about who was playing, but why they were playing it.

This felt like cricket just because.

The phrase “meaningless one-day series” has been used so often over the past couple of decades that the words themselves don’t mean much anymore.

Yet even for meaningless cricket, this felt especially meaningless.

It is not that the format itself is without charm. Last year’s World Cup reminded the cricket community of what the forgotten middle child can do when given the chance to shine.

That is a World Cup though. It makes for a long four years in the interim.

The Ponsford Stand and all the upper deck closed at the MCG for today's ODI - the first Australia have played since winning a World Cup in front of more than 100,000 Indians pic.twitter.com/AQjQK4amEO

— Oliver Caffrey (@ollycaffrey) February 2, 2024

The Aussies’ selection of Bartlett, Fraser-McGurk, Sutherland, Lance Morris, Aaron Hardie and Matt Short in the squad for these matches was a clear nod to the long-term.

And yet four members of Australia’s overall underperforming top six - Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head- were all out there five days after the end of the home Test summer and less than four weeks before the Test series in New Zealand was due to begin.

Perhaps commercial interests made it impractical for everyone to be rested, but with a Sheffield Shield round to begin on the weekend it was hard to mount a case that three matches in a format that doesn’t reach its zenith until late 2027 were more helpful than competitive red-ball cricket ahead of a tricky Test tour that could make or break Australia’s push for back-to-back World Test Championship titles.

Australia's Lance Morris fields the ball in front of an empty row of chairs at the MCG on Friday. Picture: Martin Keep / AFP.

When asked what was in this series for Smith, Australian coach Andrew McDonald - himself getting a rest during these matches - said that next year’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan was already a target and that this series was part of the build-up for that event.

However while it is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time, the idea of preparing for the Champions Trophy 12 months away when there is a Test series in less than a month feels a bit like putting out the decorations for Halloween in the middle of December.

In any case Smith himself gave the impression that this was cricket for contractual obligations when he dodged the chance to commit to playing the Champions Trophy when asked about the matter on Wednesday.

Beautiful day for cricket in Melbourne. Not many here at the MCG. I’m showing my age. Australia v West Indies in an MCG ODI used to be one of the hottest tickets in town. #AUSvWIpic.twitter.com/bGxJ5S9pAD

— Andrew Wu (@wutube) February 2, 2024

When cricketers’ time is being hugely stretched, these sorts of series feel like the most expendable option.

The Marylebone Cricket Club’s World Cricket Committee last year advocated for bilateral ODIs to be expunged outside a 12-month window leading into a World Cup, a move that would clear space and create some context for matches in the format, especially after the shortsighted move to abandon the ICC Super League that served as a qualification system for the World Cup itself.

But the committee has no real sway, and the ICC has given no hint that it will adopt the idea. Australia is due to play India in a handful of ODIs only days after the end of the 2027 World Cup.

That will mean plenty more days like Friday.

Originally published as Empty MCG for ‘meaningless’ Australia vs West Indies ODI a sign of one-day scheduling muddle