Your having a laugh. I can see why people can call Twenty-20 not "Real Cricket" but 50 over matches? It makes the game more interesting. If you ask me I find 5 day tests least interesting anyway. I will watch them, observe them and at times enjoy them but it is obvious that the game format for Test Cricket is a bit old fashioned isn't it. You saw the crowds at Lords against West Indies, half full. Although it was just West Indies, without Lara and it was heading for a draw, you can see that most cricket fans are fed up with Test Cricket. Personally, I will never ever want them to permantly demolish test cricket but Twenty-20 and ODI's must exist to keep the sport alive.

Most people on this board who call Twenty-20 "Not real cricket" must realise that this sport brings in the crowds. It is a batsman game but look at some bowlers like Stuart Broad. When Leicestershire won the Twenty-20 cup in 2006, he changed games with his bowling. This game does favour the batsman but also appeals to the younger, less inpatient generation. Cricket to some is a game of patience. To others, it is a game where nothing happens and it is a load of boring rubbish for 8 hours a day for 5 days.

Everyone has an opinion on formats of Cricket and I believe that Twenty-20 will increase the global interest in the sport which is good for all. So long as they don't go out of hand with sponsership and wages...etc
Every cricket lover (Well, from the UK and AUS) knows the Ashes is probably the greatest prize of them all and it won't change. But to say that ODI's and Twenty-20 is not "Real Cricket" is insulting the intelligence of everybody who sits down and enjoys those formats, including myself.

Back to the original topic. I guess it is Murali's choice at the end of the day. He may do it for the wages, maybe he doesn't like the idea of being hit around the park. Maybe he feels he is too old to go travelling every other month, who knows? I think that he just does not take interest in the short format of Twenty-20 cricket. It will be interesting to see if he plays in the Twenty-20 cup next month.

Twenty20 and 50 over matches are more entertainment than cricket. Test cricket can be twice as exciting as ODI cricket, Gilchrist's 56 ball ton against England was one of the most entertaining innings I have ever watched, and it was the most distructive show of batting and I had not seen a better example of clean hitting than in that innings. Test cricket is not old fashioned, the reason why the none cricket playing audience like ODI's and twenty20 better is because they know nothing about the game.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

FF,

At 19 I would'nt call myself a dinosour... As I said in my original post, just because something is popular does'nt mean it's any good. the 15-20 yo generation has made Paris Hilton into a celeb, does'nt mean we should respect her.

20/20 is like tabloid cricket, quick, action packed and lacking in any real substance or skill.

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It's hard enough to remember my opinions, without remembering my reasons for them!
Nietzsche

Yeh Im only 20 so I dont think that it is just the older members of this forum that think that are more traditional in there cricketing opinions

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

I don't think the rules should be altered in order to attract interest. If some people can't appreciate what cricket is, they shouldn't watch or play it.

You don't see the goals in football brought closer together to increase the chances of scoring, do you?

In five a side football you do...

The game needs different formats to attract different people, the problem with the anti-Twenty20 comments on here is that it is all about protecting Test cricket at all costs. The problem is Twenty20 doesn't threat Test cricket, the two formats can co-exist, in the same way that ODI's and Tests have for thirty years.

I prefer Test cricket, always have. But sometimes I fancy a posh meal out, and sometimes I prefer a burger... I think that the three formats can co-exist. But we need to keep innovating, otherwise the game will lose touch with people, and then Test cricket will be left to die.

Absolutely true. Jeff Thomson always said (in his usual crude but honest manner) that any form of ODI is "bit of a crap, really". That might be too harsh, but ODIs, even the 50-over game, is not really 'cricket' in the traditional sense. It does not need a 56-ball ton to make Test cricket more interesting; it can be just as thrilling to connoisseurs to watch Nos 9 and 10 block everything in a heroic attempt to save a match. Test cricket is all about stategy, making best use of the conditions, the vagaries of the weather and the loss of sleep overnight. ODIs will never come anywhere near that sort of class. Test and other forms of traditional First Class cricket is like enjoying a bottle of fine wine......really meant only for the connoisseurs; ODIs are like a pint of good beer on a hot summer afternoon....enjoyable for the moment, but nothing to savour over time.

Disagree with that - currently savouring a great pint of Old Peculier, and to me that is better than a fine wine.

I feel we need all forms of the game, because Cricket is big enough.

Why does Twenty20 work for me

1. You can watch it after work
2. It is a taste of Cricket (but like any taste, you want more - i.e. a Test)
3. It is fun... it is a laugh, it is meant to be enjoyed
4. It is not over complicated, which means it is accessible to the newly aquainted
5. It is just long enough to get 4 beers in, and that is always good!!

5 a side football? There is no interest in that whatsoever....

Ah you are not a fan of the Masters Series on SKY sports... then again neither am I, as I am not a great football fan



But we are not talking about changing the shape of the bat, size of the ball, we are talking some minor changes to the playing conditions of a particular game, i.e. number of overs, fielding restrictions and over restrictions, this is not going to change or destroy the nature of cricket!!