Australia in name only: One-Day Internationals being devalued as Test preparation for India series prioritised

Once upon a time it would seem unthinkable for Australia to rest any of its stars for a series-deciding One-Day International. Yet that is what is happening this weekend and DANIEL CHERNY explains why it is becoming a problem.

Australia A was playing at the MCG on Saturday, but in a way Australia A will also be playing in Perth on Sunday.

A generation ago it would have been unfathomable that Australia would rest five of its best players for a series-deciding one-day international on home soil, but that is just what is happening this weekend.

Despite the series being level at 1-1, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have all been spared the trip to Western Australia for Sunday’s third and final ODI against Pakistan in a bid to help their preparation for the summer’s main course of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests against India.

Australia missing most of it’s stars for the final one day international against Pakistan raises some interesting questions. Picture: Brenton Edwards/AFP

Mitch Marsh and Travis Head had already been slated to miss the one-dayers for paternity leave. With David Warner – despite his cheeky recent offerings – having retired from international cricket, it means the Aussies will field only three of the World Cup-winning XI from less than a year ago at Perth Stadium on Sunday: Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa and stand-in skipper Josh Inglis.

CA waited until after the first game of the series in Melbourne to announce who wouldn’t be heading to Perth as well as confirm additions to the squad, even though there had already been advanced plans to draft in reinforcements before the series started.

The issue of contextless bilateral white-ball internationals is not a new one. And you would struggle to find many cricket fans in this country who believe Cricket Australia is doing the wrong thing by prioritising Test cricket above all else.

Only three of the World Cup-winning XI will take to the field in Perth. Picture: Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images

The absence of the Test players provides opportunities for others, helping usher the next generation of international cricketers into a lower-stakes environment when vacancies in the Test XI have been few and far between. It is a chance to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Any time a local player captains his country will be a popular call in Perth, while the prospect of international cricket for WA products Cooper Connolly, Lance Morris, Marcus Stoinis and Josh Philippe should also help attendances in a hyper-parochial market.

But there is also a self-fulfilling element to this phenomenon. Most fans aren’t stupid. If your actions tell people this cricket doesn’t matter that much, then punters will soon reach such a conclusion.

They won’t be the only ones either. Tellingly, neither the ODI series nor the three Twenty20 internationals against Pakistan that follow have a series naming rights sponsor.

CA has understandably thrown its eggs in the Big Bash Leagues basket, but without something changing the commercial value of men’s white-ball international cricket will erode.

The long-term question is what sort of value these matches – currently exclusive to Fox and Kayo – will provide for future broadcast rights deals, albeit acknowledging that the current contact with Seven and Foxtel runs until 2031.

It is understandable that CA wants to promote the Big Bash with its biggest stars featuring like Steve Smith. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

This will be an annual dance for the time being given CA has cleared out January for the BBL, meaning home men’s white-ball matches for the next few years will be played either in northern Australia during the Winter or in October-November ahead of Test series. Next year it will be three one-dayers and five T20s against India, and unlike this year’s ODIs that are at least being played with the jeopardy of Champions Trophy spots on the line, next year’s home ODIs come smack bang in the middle of a four-year World Cup cycle, neither here nor there.

Given they will come in the weeks before an Ashes series, what sort of Australian team might be rolled out for those games?

Originally published as Australia in name only: One-Day Internationals being devalued as Test preparation for India series prioritised