Ponting warns against new one-day format

Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting says he is concerned the new domestic one-day format will hamper the World Cup preparations of fringe players.

Cricket Australia recently announced domestic one-dayers will now be split into two innings of 20 and 25 overs, in a break from the single innings 50-over format.

Ponting said he was concerned that the new format would limit the preparation for some of the players currently outside the national team ahead of the World Cup, which begins in February in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

''We need to be playing as much 50-over cricket as we can with the World Cup just around the corner,'' he said.

''It'll be OK for the guys that are in the national side, we'll probably play another 12 or 13 one dayers before the one day World Cup comes around.

''They guys on the fringe that are playing domestic cricket won't play any 50 over games really until that World Cup. Probably for the young spinners around Australia in particular, they're going to find it difficult this summer.''

Ponting said he would have preferred the players to have more input before the changes were made.

''The players probably felt that they didn't have the input that they probably would have liked to have had,'' he said.
  
''I know there's been a lot of speculation about how it's going to be played, but it's up to the players now to play it as well as they can and make it a good spectacle.''

Ponting said he would likely play two Sheffield Shield games for Tasmania this summer, but would not play any domestic one day matches.

- AAP