Thrill-a-minute cricket here to stay

It's the new wave of the international game, so we might as well get used to it. Those who measure the quality of a cricketer by his performances over the long haul, and have grown to tolerate one-dayers as a necessary evil, will probably look scornfully upon the two Twenty20 Internationals between the West Indies and England.

Just as the 50 over version was ridiculed in its fledgling years as "pyjama cricket" with its coloured clothing and other gimmicks, so too has the 20 overs-per-side hybrid been dismissed as a glorified whipping session, where the subtleties and complexities of the real thing are abandoned in the quest to clear the boundary ropes almost every delivery to the accompaniment of ear drum-puncturing noise from the resident DJ.

Given their stubborn refusal to accept those ODI innovations in the immediate aftermath of Kerry Packer's revolutionary World Series Cricket, it is more than a little ironic that this latest consumer-friendly variety has really taken off in England, as evidenced by the overwhelming popularity of the domestic version since it was introduced to a very receptive audience four years ago.

They were not the first to experiment with an even shorter form of one-day cricket, but it is fair to say that its instant success convinced the ICC of the need to get in on the action, seeing as almost every match, whether domestic or international, is played in front of capacity crowds that are representative of every strata of society, from hardcore party animals to whole families enjoying an evening's entertainment.

And that's essentially what it is: entertainment. Not a complex series of sub-plots and individual skirmishes, all unfolding over time in a duel that has almost as many twists, turns and changes of pace as the most complex scandal-laced soap opera.

In an era when those who have extra money can't enjoy the luxury of much spare time, Twenty20 fills the breach almost perfectly.

Most people were more preoccupied with the staggering sums of money shovelled out than the quality of the cricket played, but Allen Stanford's ground-breaking Caribbean version of the frenetic spectacle proved such a hit last August in Antigua that, just for a moment, we almost believed his baseless boast that "West Indies cricket is back on track!" just after Narsingh Deonarine smashed a six off the penultimate ball of the final to give Guyana a pulsating victory over Trinidad and Tobago.

It's all about instant gratification, so there's no point griping about it lacking the depth of the longer contest. That is not to say, of course, that any fool can dash to the nearest phone booth and be transformed Clark Kent-style into a Twenty20 superhero.

Indeed, there is enough evidence to suggest that the concentrated demands of this extremely abbreviated style have contributed to even sharper fielding, while batsmen exposed to it on a regular basis are now more inclined to attack much earlier and with more clinical efficiency in both Tests and one-dayers.

Still, it doesn't appeal to all players, despite the financial rewards. Two years ago, Brian Lara commented that he didn't enjoy having to swing for the hills almost from the word go when rain reduced an ODI against South Africa at the Queen's Park Oval effectively to a Twenty20 affair.

A number of Australia's senior players, including skipper Ricky Ponting and 2007 World Cup final hero Adam Gilchrist, have cautioned against exposing younger players too much to a form of the game that could see them developing habits inimical to ensuring the country's continued dominance at Test level.

Still, Twenty20 has well and truly claimed its place in the cricketing world with the ICC approving the inaugural World Cup in South Africa in September. It is unlikely, however, given the increasing complaints about squeezing more matches into an already congested international schedule, that Twenty20 will enjoy the unfettered growth of its 50-over relation.

Of course, as with anything else, it takes some getting used to, and Sunday's 84-run humiliation at the hands of Derbyshire is not an encouraging sign for Chris Gayle's reconstituted side. Hopefully, the final warm-up against the PCA Masters at Arundel would have proven more encouraging ahead of their first clash with Paul Collingwood's England at The Oval in London.

In their only Twenty20 International before the upcoming matches, the West Indies lost out in a tie-breaking bowl-out in Auckland at the start of their New Zealand tour in February of last year. It was an entertaining experience with a thrilling finale, but apart from the fact that it marked the farewell of allrounder Chris Cairns to international cricket, hardly anything else is worth remembering.

But that's Twenty20 for you: gratification without any real meaning, much like life in the 21st century. It is very much a game for the times.