''I reckon about three years, I see it, and it will be pretty much gone,'' he told Triple M's Summer Session. ''There is a World Cup in 2015 - I believe TV deals are all locked away to get to that, and those commitments will be fulfilled. But after that I think it will be history.

''I suspect that one-day cricket may be obsolete in about three years' time. I suspect that after that the appetite for it might diminish, and all the TV programmers and the administrators will be focusing on the two other forms. Twenty20, let's face it, is the revenue stream that keeps the longer version alive. I just suspect that's the way it's headed.''

More than 30 years after limited-overs cricket in coloured clothing took off in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket revolution, crowds have dropped off dramatically in recent years - a decline hastened by the T20 boom.

Figures presented to Cricket Australia's new board in October demonstrated the format's fall from grace. While CA continues to throw its support behind the one-day game before it hosts the World Cup, it faces a major challenge to restore or even retain crowd numbers. A total of 456,264 spectators attended ODI matches in the summer of 1999-2000, a figure that plummeted to 251,916 last season.

There has also been consternation about seemingly meaningless stand-alone ODI series such as Australia's five-match series in England in the winter, and with the format itself, with innings that often meander along between the 15th and 40th overs and only come alive at the start and finish.