Jonty Rhodes thinks One-Day cricket is in trouble, and bilateral ODI series will be pushed to the brink although the 50-over World Cup will retain its relevance.

Speaking at the jersey launch in Mumbai of ETPL’s Rotterdam Dockers franchise of which Rhodes is a co-owner, Rhodes said “When T20 cricket first started, people were saying, well, it’s going to put pressure on Test cricket. And amazingly, it hasn’t.

“But for me, it was always understanding that 50-over cricket might be the one format where, because we bring in such a fresh crowd and a different perspective into the game, possibly 50-over cricket might be in trouble in the years ahead.

“So I think there’s still great scope and it’s such an exciting opportunity to play in a cricket World Cup, whether it’s T20 or 50-over. So at this stage, I think there will be fewer and fewer bilateral series where there’s a lot of 50-over cricket in the bilateral series, but it’s very difficult to think of cricket without the 50-over version.

South Africa will host the next ODI World Cup, and Rhodes said the country is looking forward to playing host to the world and hoping that South Africa can lift the trophy. The Proteas are the defending World Test champions, but they have never won an ICC white-ball trophy.

“We as a nation, from the 2010 Football World Cup, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 2007 T20 World Cup — there was a team that won that in 2007, what a great team! — I think everybody who’s been to South Africa to follow cricket has really enjoyed their time. So, we as South Africans are looking forward to hosting it.

“I think World Cup cricket is such a special occasion that everybody who comes there is going to enjoy themselves. But I think, as a South African team that’s hosting, there are a few things that we would like to settle. And one of those is obviously winning an ICC limited-overs trophy.”