Twenty20 Cricket: The Fastest Growing Team Sport

Wednesday 11th June 2008: a date to remember.

Sir Allen Stanford was at Lords and announced, "one night, one game, $10 million dollars, winner takes all". Some players were licking their lips at the chance of £500,000 just to play one game of Twenty20, but some were not. For one, Michael Vaughan must have been kicking himself for stepping down as one-day captain, as Paul Collingwood, although terribly out of form, will pocket £500,000 for 3 hours work. Bad luck Vaughany.

Twenty20 has become the most talked about Sport in the last few weeks, having just announced a Cricket Champions League, in which the top two Twenty20 sides will enter, we also already have the IPL and ICL, two runaway Indian Twenty20 Leagues, where the likes of Shane Warne (who captains Rajasthan Royals) and Dimitri Mascheranhas of England have played in. Other stars include, Brendon McCullum, Glenn McCgrath, Chris Read and Ross Taylor. Some say the sport of Twenty20 may even replace football, but I think thats a way off yet, but with the money coming into the game, I wouldn't rule it out in time to come.

Something else that's worrying some fans, and encouraging others, is that Test Cricket could be wiped out. The reasons for this are simple: the money in Test match cricket just won't match up to that of Twenty20.

It's also more exciting, less work and attracts a bigger crowd, so for all those Test cricket fans out there, be prepared in the future for more and more Twenty20 and less Test cricket. Though, I do feel that Test cricket is far from being finished just yet.

Another factor we have to consider is that of the players playing the sport. What will change? Let's start with the bowling.

Bowling will no longer be about line and length, but more about fast yorkers and good slower balls, meaning that certain bowlers out there today that bowl consistently on the same length will be picked and hammered over the fence.

Bowlers such as James Anderson and Brett Lee will certainly be successful, as they like to pitch the ball up and swing it. But for those bowlers that take 2-3 overs just to get in their stride will not have a great time in Twenty20.

What about the batsmen? One thing is for sure, batsmen such as Michael Vaughan and Alistair Cook will not be getting into the England team because they don't hit the ball over the top. More and more hitters will be produced and the likes of Luke Wright and Graham Hick will be representing the nation. Another reason why Test cricket could fall away.

The word jealousy hasn't really been used in cricket over the years; perhaps envy, but that's only those players that wish they could hit the ball like Beefy and bowl 112 different variations of the flipper like Shane Warne.

But this word could be used more and more, as players that haven't ever represented their nation before will all get a slice of Sir Allen Stanford's $10 Million dollars in their back pocket on the fact that they can wallop the ball out the ground.

I feel that Twenty20 will in time take over 50-50 Cricket, but i do still think that Test Cricket will live on for the time being anyway.

England have a lot to look forward to with the $10 million dollar match in November and then the Ashes in the summer of 2009.