20/20 Premier League - some thoughts

I'll be honest straight from the start and admit that I'm not a huge fan of 20/20 cricket.

I don't deny it's exciting at times, but it really doesn't thrill me. I've not yet watched an IPL game from start to finish, although I'll admit to being pleased when Derbyshire win matches in the competition, and I'd be shouting from the rooftops if we were to win it.

I'm with Neville Cardus. He once memorably described one day cricket as being "like Mozart played on a banjo". If that is so, 20/20 must be played on the comb and paper. If I think back to memorable passages of cricket, there are various things come to mind. Holding's torrid over to Boycott in 1981, ending with his brutal dismissal. Allan Donald's bowling to Mike Atherton one sunny evening, with barely a run scored but the cricket breathtaking. Derbyshire beating Sussex in the Gillette Cup semi-final of 1969, bowling them out for 49 with some astonishing bowling.

Cricket doesn't have to be all bish, bash, bosh to be good. We all like to see a sensational shot, a glorious cover drive, a clip through mid wicket, but 20/20 is a little like eating at a top restaurant. On an occasional basis it is really nice, but after a while you get fed up with it and yearn for something else, something more simple.

After my wife and kids, I love cricket. The only thing that comes close is music, but the truth is I don't like to mix my cricket and music. Snippets of rock music played after every boundary or wicket is neither here nor there. Nor is it new, as those who've read about the old festival weeks, with cricket accompanied by brass bands, will know. Anyone who knows me would say I was receptive to change and innovation, but 20/20 really isn't my bag, man. It's too biased in favour of batsmen, with short boundaries and fielding regulations. A game doesn't really evolve either. A 40 or 50 over game can ebb and flow, but a bad start in a 20/20 usually results in a team getting stuffed.

I don't like pyjama clothes either, so I suppose I'm a traditionalist. Which brings me neatly to the plans for the EPL in 2010. I'm left cold, stone cold, by plans to introduce regional or city teams. I was brought up to enjoy the "derby" matches, the battles against Yorkshire, Notts and Leicester, and now we're considering them being on our side. Hmmm...

I cannot deny the rationale that, as 20/20 has attracted a whole new audience, this crowd has not yet developed loyalties and may therefore embrace the new teams and new identities. It may attract international stars, most of whom would sooner walk barefoot over hot coals than endure a full season of county cricket. I just think that we're accelerating the time when the market for cricket is saturated.

We're not far away as it is. Who would be a fast bowler in the modern game? It's hard enough work as it is, without staggering from one game to the next, expected to run in hard and still dive to stop fours. I'm reminded of Bill Bowes, the old Yorkshire quick bowler before the war, saying how he got bawled out by his skipper for diving to stop the ball. "You're in the side to bowl, we've other buggers to do that sort of thing" he was told. No wonder the modern quicks have so many injuries.

For batsmen too, there's another innings tomorrow and the quality is sacrificed to the quantity. Someone, somewhere needs to take stock of the situation and needs to do it fast.