Does the proliferation of T20 cricket endanger the fine tradition of cricket literature? Does T20 cricket provide the scope for unfolding narratives and plot development? Perhaps, just as cricketers must adapt to the shortest format, so too must cricket writers, says Mike Atherton in the Times.

Where to go? Maybe baseball, similar in length and format and now style, offers a clue. Probably the most influential baseball writer of recent times has been Bill James, who sought to use deep analysis of data alongside folksy, homespun prose to debunk myths and what he called "repeated legend and legerdemain". His writing might not be as lyrical as, say, Roger Angell's, but it changed the way people thought about the game and sparked a multibillion-dollar sports data/analytics industry. Help is on the way for cricket writers who want to get under the skin of T20 with analytical sites such as CricViz -- a free app that uses a combination of historical Hawk-Eye, Opta, ball-by-ball and scoreboard data, part founded and devised by Nathan Leamon, England's analyst.