Australia hold fire on Twenty20

Cricket Australia has said that it has no immediate plans to start playing Twenty20 matches, although it will continue to monitor the situation.

James Sutherland, CA's chief executive, said that the absence of any formal international competition meant it did not demand integration into an already-packed summer schedule.

"We're not wanting to jump into it," Sutherland explained. "I guess one of our observations of it is that Pura Cup and ING Cup have talent development functions for the Australian cricket team. There's no international cricket that's played in the 20-over format so in some ways we're reluctant to tinker with what is a tried and true format, that works really well for the success of our national team."

Twenty20 cricket has been a massive success in England where crowds have flocked to games. In July, more than 28,000 watched Middlesex play Surrey at Lord's in a zonal match. It has also been successfully launched in South Africa, and other countries are adding it to domestic programmes.

Australia are scheduled to play the first international 20-over game in New Zealand this season, and one against England during the Ashes tour in 2005.