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Twenty20 cricket is here to stay. There is no stopping this shorter, more electric and captivating form of the game. Cricket has evolved from the test format to the ODI format to what we now see in prominence T20 cricket. Although some have doomed this form of the game to fail, I do believe it is a boon. There is no stopping a sport which has gained the interests of big investors, and whenever money is involved there is no stopping sport.

From a marketing perspective, Twenty20 cricket is the easiest form of the game to promote. We can look at the creation of the ICL and IPL as examples. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is to cricket what the English Premier League (EPL) is to football (soccer). A league with great teams backed by wealthy owners and no doubt great players will not die. More so it is a league taking place in a country where there are about a billion people and cricket is the national past time. Furthermore, these leagues attract the best and brightest players in this form of the game. Players from every cricketing nation which include Kevin Petierson, Dwayne Bravo, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff and many, many more. There is no doubt in my mind that if a sport has the best players participating in it, then it is bound for success.

My second point is simple, Twenty20 cricket has revitalised the sport of cricket. In many countries where cricket was slowly taking the back foot to other sports like football (soccer), T20 rekindled interest in the sport. More young players are enticed into playing the sport. Not only because of the great excitement which it holds but because of tremendous pay-days not seen in cricket before. Recent IPL signings Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Petierson for example have over million dollar contracts to play. Twenty20 cricket has thus become the most lucrative form of cricket. Another example is the Stanford Twenty20 for 20 which saw each West Indian player pocket 1 million US dollars. Now that cricket is a lucrative career choice we will see more players being developed from a younger age and see the best of the best playing in the most exciting form of the game.

Twenty20 cricket is a potential bridge into countries that do not play cricket. Many in non-cricketing nations think of cricket as a long, boring, old Englishman's sport. This form of the game will prove this wrong and instill a new opinion of cricket in countries like the US. Twenty20 will showcase to them that cricket can be short, dynamic and by no means only an Englishman's sport. Showcasing the variety of talent in the different Twenty20 leagues and tournaments worldwide will help generate some buzz towards cricket; after all it is the second most popular sport in the world.

Finally, allow me to put on display the concerns of others. Many believe that the longer form of the game (test cricket) will die out due to this shorter form. There is no way this will happen, the powers at be coupled with people of great influence in cricket would never allow it nor should they. I believe there is a place in the world for all three forms of the game we have currently. Players can all participate and some can be better in one form over another which makes the sport even more exciting. Some other concerns are that Twenty20 cricket is all about big hits and cheap thrills not genuine cricket. Whilst lots of runs and wicket taking make this form more captivating, it has been proved already that good cricket shots prosper over slogs and accurate bowling delivers the most damage. Twenty20 cricket has a place in this world and the best cricketers will be the ones that stand out.

Learn more about this author, Kimberte William.
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