If I were to select my most vivid memory of the last time Australia and New Zealand hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup, in 1992, it would be something that did not take place on the field of play.

It was at a hotel situated a few minutes’ walk from the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), a location which, over the years, cricket teams — both Australian and from all over the world — have called home when they have been in the city.

It was the night of the final when Pakistan overcame England to win the tournament and I was a young fast bowler on the fringes of the Victoria state squad while working as an accountant. After watching the match in the members’ area, I had gone to that hotel with friends to reflect on a great day’s cricket highlighted by Wasim Akram’s man-of-the-match performance for Imran Khan’s famously ‘cornered tigers.’

Although it was a couple of hours after the final ball was bowled in the day-night match, there were still hundreds of people around, chatting at the end of what had been a hot day about what they had seen. But then, above the hubbub of noise, some chanting could be heard. And gradually it got louder and louder.

Eventually the source of the chanting became clear. The Pakistan squad, fresh rather than weary from their triumph, had returned from the stadium, an uphill walk of about 800 metres, and they had been followed by excited and jubilant supporters, shouting out the names of their heroes and their country.

The players went to their rooms but those supporters remained in and around the lobby of the hotel, continuing to chant and sing. It made for an electric atmosphere and it is something that has stayed with me ever since.

In the intervening 23 years, plenty in the cricketing landscape has changed. The ICC World Cup has grown from nine teams in 1992 to 14 this time, including Afghanistan for the first time and the United Arab Emirates for the first time in 19 years. It is not only the biggest global sporting event of 2015 but also now ranks second only to the FIFA World Cup in terms of size for single sport tournaments.

But some things have remained the same. One-Day International (ODI) cricket, through this tournament, is still holding the cricketing world spellbound, and we at Cricket Australia believe it will continue to do so long after the final ball is delivered, back here in Melbourne on 29 March.

There are plenty who are keen to write the format’s obituary, especially in the face of the rise of Twenty20, but we see one-day cricket as a vital and important part of the cricketing landscape.

It offers the best of the sport’s two extremes — the big hits and attacking cricket that are the main components of Twenty20, as well as a result within the day, while, at the same time allowing for the ebbs and flows that characterise Test cricket, our longest, and longest running, format.

It has history, too. Ask a Pakistan fan to pick the perfect moment in his country’s cricketing journey and the image of Imran receiving the trophy on the outfield at the MCG is likely to feature high on the list of selections.

And the format continues to evolve too, thanks most recently to new playing conditions introduced by the International Cricket Council in 2011 that have significantly enhanced the game. The once dull middle overs that were punctuated by four or five singles an over now provide a far more entertaining and tactical contest between bat and ball. These changes have added to the classic risk-reward trade-offs that have always been such a vital part of the one-day game — and coupled with the additional context of a World Cup, the cricket seems more compelling than it has ever been.

The public has certainly responded. Already we have had two attendances in excess of 85,000 and, with more than 825,000 tickets sold before a ball was bowled, our Local Organising Committee remains on track to reach its goal of one million fans heading through the turnstiles during the course of the event.

Interest has also been high through television, radio, newspapers and the internet, and the India-Pakistan match in Adelaide on the opening weekend of the tournament is likely to have been the most watched cricket match in history.

The fact the tournament means something and has done for many years is undeniable. You just need to watch the players, and even the spectators in each ground, to know that. And it is that meaning that leaves me excited about the future of ODIs.

That meaning will be enhanced still further thanks to the qualification process for the next World Cup, which will see the world’s ten best sides reach the tournament proper through their placement in the ICC rankings.

And although that reduction in the size of the event from 14 teams this time has led to expressions of displeasure from Associate sides who feel they are being squeezed out of places in cricket’s biggest showpiece, we believe that new set-up actually offers further opportunities to develop the ODI format and provide greater context to more and more matches around the world every year through that qualification process.

What it does mean is that Full Members need to step up and provide more opportunities for Associates to play against them to allow those Associates to climb the rankings. It is something we have done, with matches against Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland over the past three years, and we will be playing Ireland again in August ahead of our limited-overs series against England.

Pakistan have done likewise, playing Afghanistan while the latter was still an Affiliate ICC Member in 2012, and their Memorandum of Understanding is an example of a Full Member taking an up-and-coming neighbour under their wing to help develop the game. Now the onus is on other established sides to provide further opportunities for those Associates to play big cricket, something that will ultimately help the game go from strength to strength.

Back in 1992 Pakistan made a famously slow start to the ICC World Cup before coming up on the rails to secure a famous success. Whatever happens in 2015 — and I obviously hope it will be Australia that achieves success — it will be just the latest amazing chapter, with plenty more to follow, in the continuing story of ODI cricket.

The writer is CEO Cricket Australia

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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