Is twenty20 doing more harm than good?

yes, you've probably seen me ramble on about this before but the difference, this is the draft for an article to be included in media coursework.


After the extinction of the ‘Benson & Hedges cup’ in 2002, the ECB required another one-day competition to replace it and so twenty20 cricket was born. Now almost ten years later, it seems as if the whole world has gone mad for t20: every cricket playing nation embraced it almost immediately. Back in England, most counties sell out for twenty20 nights and this provides a large majority of the club’s income – something they do not get from the other two domestic competitions. With the beer flowing and the pop music deafening, it seems a world away from cricket from yesteryear. Venture to a championship match at the same ground a week later and see the difference before your eyes: thousands of empty seats, with only a row of ‘Daily Telegraph’ reading, middle class, sixty year olds, sipping tea from their thermal flasks. The counties seem to be doing their upmost to entice people into watching the longest form of the domestic game, citing that their main objective is to either achieve promotion or to win the first division. With England top of the test rankings, it was hoped fans would take a bigger interest in the county championship and we shall hope for positive results in 2012 season.
Although the county game is suffering and failing to encourage supporters to attend matches, England themselves do not seem to be having such problems. Despite the amount of seemingly meaningless ODIs – the English fans are continually selling out grounds to watch England in all three formats of the game, in particular test cricket. However other places in the world have appeared to grow bored of test matches, which was always previously seen as the pinnacle of international cricket. Recent test matches in both India and Australia have been poorly attended but what are the reasons for this? Too much cricket – is the packed international schedule leading to a lack of interest from supporters? Are ticket prices simply extortionate, therefore cricket not being affordable for the average fan? Or is it simply a love of test cricket is wilting and have fans found a worthy substitute in twenty20 competitions?
Maybe the IPL is to blame for some India fans’ slack attitude towards test cricket. Set up in 2008, the tournament has appeared to be a great success in India and a hit with fans all around the world, broadcast to millions in many different countries. Its brand value is said to be over three billion pounds and is the second highest paid league in the world, only the NBA beating it on salaries and lucrative sponsorship deals. The wages of your ‘average’ test cricketer can no longer compete with the IPL, more and more players seem to be neglecting international cricket in favour of these well paid twenty20 competitions (Chris Gayle, a topical example), and if the best players in the world are participating in such tournaments, it is assumed the fans will follow.
A majority of the best cricket matches in history have all been test matches and the ICC needs to lure cricket fans back to watching test cricket. Introduce the test championships sooner rather than later and cut down on the amount of ‘pointless’ ODIs and put the emphasis back on test matches, don’t let the world fall out of love with it.