"Just Keep World Cups" - Heinrich Klaasen Wants Bilateral ODIs Out of International Calendar

Heinrich Klaasen has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to rethink the role of bilateral ODIs in the modern calendar. After his retirement from international cricket, the former South African wicketkeeper-batter believes that the 50-over format, outside of World Cups, has lost relevance. Instead, Klaasen wants the ICC to invest more in Test matches, especially for teams that do not play them regularly, and embrace the growing demand for T20 cricket.

Klaasen announced his retirement from international cricket in June 2025, ending a career that began in 2018. Known for his clean striking, he was part of South Africa’s core group in white-ball cricket. 

He wanted to continue till the ODI World Cup 2027. But his retirement decision was influenced by a change in South Africa’s coaching set-up as they could not find a middle path with franchise leagues attracting Heinrich Klaasen more. Klaasen was also not included in central contracts list. While he will continue playing franchise cricket around the world, Klaasen’s absence will be felt in South Africa’s middle-order in the limited-overs formats.

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Heinrich Klaasen Calls for ODI Reform After Announcing International Retirement

Klaasen, speaking to Cricbuzz after his retirement, was clear in his assessment of where the game should head.

In his view, ODIs have become redundant outside of World Cup years. He feels fans are far more invested in the shorter format, while Tests still hold prestige and value, especially for countries who barely get to feature in the five-day game.

"I think the only change that I will make is probably take [bilateral] one-day cricket away from international cricket. Make it more Test matches for teams that don't play a lot of Test matches. Play more T20 cricket, because that's what the people want to see. You can keep your one-day World Cups, and just maybe a month before the one-day World Cup starts, you play five games for every team, just to get used to that format," Klaasen said as quoted to Cricbuzz.

Klaasen also touched on the widening gap between cricket boards in terms of how well they look after players when it comes to finances, workload and scheduling. 

He pointed out that cricketers from less wealthy boards face difficult choices. They are left with little option but to chase earnings in domestic leagues around the world often at the cost of their international careers.

"It's not a big change that you have to make in that format. It's more the international teams that you probably will struggle with. If they don't take care of the international players, they will go out and go to the leagues to make some extra cash. If you look at the Aussies and the England boys, they get looked after well, so they don't need to go around the world and go play all these leagues."

"So it's going to be on the ICC to go like we need certain players, so we need to actually fork out a little bit more money for them to make sure they are well rested. I don't think it's sustainable for players to play all the leagues and all formats. So you will have more players that place a certain amount importance to certain formats. The all-format players can't play leagues, and they can't play all the formats for the international team, they will just burn out," Klaasen opined.

Leagues Becoming Better Option for South African Players, Says Heinrich Klaasen 

Klaasen also spoke honestly about why more players might choose leagues over international cricket. He said money plays a big role, especially for South African players who do not earn as much as those from some other countries.

"You will have more players looking to go play leagues, because it just pays better than what South Africa pays you. It's probably the wrong answer to give, but if they don't start looking after your all-format players, they will look to retire from a certain format to go have enough break to play leagues," Klaasen stated.

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