Don't let your kids watch

Paul Collingwood: at least he batted for longer than Australia's middle-order © Getty Images Enlarge

The Rose Bowl witnessed a tragedy today. England thumped the Aussies in the first serious international match of the summer, under cloudless skies with a packed, enthusiastic crowd. It couldn't get any better. And that's the problem: it won't.

Today was the first experience of the sport for many children, drawn to the colour, the glamour and the noise of Twenty20. They must think it is always like this. How cruel to tease the innocent - 7 for 8 in 20 balls is irresponsible cricket from England. They should be well-practiced and prepared for disappointment by the time the Ashes starts - like the rest of us - not left floundering in false expectation.

This match was a battle for first blood - in fact, it was all about firsts: the first Twenty 20 match for England; Kevin Pietersen's home international debut on his home ground; Australia's first meeting with England in 2005. And didn't the crowd enjoy it.

The fantastic facilities at the Rose Bowl made this occasion work so well. The players warmed up on the picturesque practice ground next to the main pitch. Spectators found any vantage point they could, including a dormant JCB, to catch a glimpse of Freddie having a net. They cheered when he smashed Gareth Batty and Jon Lewis out of the practice ground - they booed his defensive shots.

Away from the professionals, NatWest set up their usual array of cricket activities to keep the kids entertained. So in between Australia's humiliation and Hampshire's thrilling last-ball win against a PCA XI (the under-card event), children (and too many adults) lined up to Speed Bowl and Target Bat. One four-year-old boy found the game too daunting, with a crowd of his cheering father and brother, he couldn't lift an oversize bat to hit balls lobbed at him from a machine and left in tears after 20 seconds.

Luckily Pietersen doesn't suffer from such nerves. In fact, when a crowd is involved, Pietersen doesn't suffer from anything: nerves or failure. He picked up the Man-of-the-Match award (but admitted Paul Collingwood should have taken it) thanks to rough batting and tough catching. Twenty20 is a tacky game and it suits him perfectly. The purist batsman in the England side, Michael Vaughan, lasted one ball - he has too much class to worry about this trivial, fake-Rolex version; for some reason, KP loves it.

Nobody is fooling themselves, though, after this "happy hitting" affair, as Pietersen described it. Ricky Ponting says they'll be laughing this off (when you are 31 for 7, what else can you do?). Vaughan says not to read too much into it, but there were moments, personal battles that started and will burn throughout this summer: Flintoff versus Brett Lee; Andrew Strauss versus Jason Gillespie - both sides, whether they wanted to or not, drew key battle lines - and it finished 1-1. Gillespie cleaned up Strauss and Freddie floored Lee with a delicious chin-shaker.

So don't get carried away and, more importantly, don't let the children get over-excited. Twenty20 is great but this victory and the optimism of the crowd have a distinct feeling of 1997 where ultimate Test failure followed one-day success. This cricket comes with an 18-rated certificate, and should remain so until the real thing begins in July.