Are we heading for 20/20 overkill?

By Tom Mallows

It may seem a strange time to raise this subject - on the eve of the ICC World Twenty20, where the world’s finest players will compete once more in the newest and most frantic form of the game. But are we fast heading for saturation point?

After all the IPL has only just finished, the English domestic Twenty/20 has just begun, the Champions League awaits in October and the EPL set to start next year.

It is bit like when TV producers hit on a successful idea they assume that viewers want to see more of the same and flood the market with a million variations along the same theme. For example Big Brother was a highly original and successful idea but instead of TV Execs striving to find the next one, they have simply re-hashed the same format which has spawned a million and one different reality TV shows that now clog up our TV schedules.

The same seems to be the case with Twenty/20. The game’s administrators have hit upon a successful, innovative money making idea. It has brought the game to a whole new audience and revolutionised the way many people watch cricket. But like a kid let loose in a sweet shop you can have too much of a good thing, however much you disagree at the time.

Take the English summer for example. It is, of course, dominated by the Ashes series against Australia (and 2009 ashes betting is set to be intense), but the season has begun under a backdrop of empty grounds and poor ticket sales. The West Indies test series began earlier then any other test series in England and it showed when we saw the unusual and uncomfortable sight of a half empty chilly Lord’s on the opening day of a test series. The English counties have also reported a fall in Twenty/20 ticket sales for the opening round of games. You can’t blame the punters though, the early English summer is notoriously unreliable and with bigger matches and warmer weather to come, why fork out now?

It also has an impact from a playing point of view. Chris Gayle’s recent comments about not being bothered about the future of test cricket could spark a worrying trend - indeed the West Indies played like a side not interested in the longer form of the game.

If the game's administrators continue to flood the market with Twenty/20 tournaments the players are going to have to choose what tournaments they want to play in. Now it doesn’t take a genius to work out that they will choose the most lucrative. We could see a situation where players give up playing for their country in order to earn millions in the IPL or EPL.

I hope that the powers that be have noticed this problem brewing and will do enough to preserve the more traditional forms of the game while keeping 20/20 fresh and interesting. If not we could soon see fans walk away from cricket, whatever format it is played in.