Blackcaps coach Gary Stead has outlined his fear for the future of one-day international cricket, as the changing face of the game moves away from the 50-over format.
Since the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England, the future of the format has come more and more into question, as the game shifts towards the cash cow that is the franchise model.
Not helped by the COVID-19 pandemic, cricket has quickly begun to shift away from tests and ODIs, and towards the Twenty20 format.
Coupled with the ongoing tug-of-war between international and franchise cricket, ODIs appear the most vulnerable.
For coach Stead, who has enjoyed 50-over success in his time leading the Blackcaps, reaching a World Cup final and semi-final respectively, the loss of ODIs would be detrimental to the game.
"It is a changing landscape around the world," said Stead. "There's been talk about whether ODIs are played in between World Cups or not.
"I think the ODI game still has a really big part to play in world cricket, personally.
"I'd be worried, more for the associate teams than anyone else, that if we only played ODIs around World Cup years, the longest version of cricket some of those teams might play would be T20 cricket."
Earlier this year, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) recommended a "significant reduction" in the number of ODIs played from 2027 onwards. That proposal would see one-dayers largely shelved until the year before a World Cup.
Those reductions have already begun. From the end of the 2019 World Cup to the start of the 2023 tournament, the Blackcaps played 43 ODIs, compared to 76 from 2015-19.
In terms of Twenty20 cricket, the Blackcaps played 82 games between the 2019 and 2023 World Cups.
In all of international cricket, a total of 281 ODIs will be played between 2023 and 2027, compared to 323 Twenty20 matches. The changing landscape of cricket has already hit the Blackcaps.
Last year, Trent Boult gave back his NZ Cricket contract to focus on being a T20 freelancer, before returning on a first of its kind "casual playing agreement" to ensure he'd be available for this year's World Cup. Martin Guptill and Colin de Grandhomme handed back their contracts to do the same.
Fifty-over cricket has largely been the Blackcaps' strongest format.
All up, the Blackcaps have reached the semi-finals eight times, since the World Cup's inception in 1975.
While New Zealand have never won the men's title, the importance of the 50-over game has never been taken lightly in Aotearoa.
As long as the World Cup remains in place, Stead sees the value of ODIs in the game's modern landscape.
"Whenever we play any bilateral series, it's around planning towards World Cups and working out what that might look like for the future.
"We don't probably play as many as some of the other countries do, so it still - in my view - has some real meaning."
