The founder of Twenty20 cricket Stuart Robertson has come out and warned administrators not to overdue the shortest form of the game.
He is quoted as saying that “Twenty20 was always designed as a game for counties or states or provinces, it was devised to address declining audiences at domestic level.”
Which in context, when you look at County and Sheffield Shield crowds makes perfect sense.
However the cricket administrators have looked at Twenty20 as a cash cow rather than using it as a tool by which to grow crowds for the longer form of the game.
Its is like a shop owner advertising a sale, it pulls people in, and then it is up to the shopkeeper to ensure that the customers return when he does not have a sale.
Too much twenty/20 cricket will exacerbate the diminishing crowds rather than assisting to grow them in the longer forms of the game. As witnessed in the test series against Pakistan in Australia very few batsmen now have the ability to play a long innings and technique is wanting, which has to be a result of improvising shots during Twenty/20.
This is very much a case of where less is more, beneficial that is.
