In this new century, administrators and players are challenged to keep the game moving forward as well as develop ideas to attract new adherents. One solution is shortening the game even further to attract the crowds. England, South Africa and Sri Lanka have introduced the Twenty/20 game; even in the US, after a century of neglect, administrators are attempting something similar. In the last case, the admin guys have caught on to a format that might attract even locals. After all, which American would understand the intricacies of ball placement by those such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid or Virender Sehwag; or even the swing and seam of Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath or Irfan Pathan? And Twenty20, whatever its drawbacks and imperfections in terms of technique and skills, does impress upon the bowler the need for discipline. So far India, Pakistan and Australia have shunned introducing the format into domestic competitions and it is easy to understand why. Does the game need such gimmicks, and can countries such as South Africa and Sri Lanka support three forms of domestic competition? They’ve tried other means. In South Africa, the UCB has embarked on a system involving six franchise teams — and, to introduce this system last April, staged the high successful Pro20 competition which in some cases drew as many spectators as ODIs.
