T20 must get bigger at grassroots level

This is an issue that has bugged me for some time. I know that playing lots of T20 does affect the staying power of our top players (especially batsmen) ... but it's also no coincidence that we have not won a World T20 since the comp's inception. We really don't coach young kids how to play this format properly. It is incredibly 'coachable' and predictable... despite what promoters might want you to believe. If everyone wants the different formats to continue to exist - and I think we are heading that way? - we need to have separate pathways for different players. Why can't this be done? A lack of grounds maybe... but T20 comps could be played on Friday evenings by development players under lights in some suburbs. This has been done in India for years. You can be a traditionalist in cricket (God knows... I've been accused of it) but the fact that there is little to no quality T20 cricket available for up and coming lower-middle Grade players in the big cities is a joke. It's no wonder that we are not competing in this format at the top level.

ooooh... ouch.

There is a self-fulfilling prophecy about T20 that it will eventually kill off test & first class cricket. The BBL is so lucrative, average cricketers can make a nice earner from it. Why bother aiming for test cricket when you can make a financial killing from T20? The skill-set is entirely different. Where's the incentive to learn patience to build an innings against tight bowling? T20's about the agricultural swipe almost every delivery, score runs quickly. Or a bowler thinking out a set batsman out with clever variations in line, length, pitch & pace? In T20 the bowler doesn't need to think, unless the "dot" ball is required in a tight finish. Mostly, the batsman will get himself out in his haste. I consider myself lucky to live when I did. I saw test cricket at its best in the 70s through 90s. I saw many of the great players of the game. I even saw ODIs at their best before they became ho-hum. In 10 years time test cricket won't exist simply because the players won't have the desire or skills to succeed, & the fans won't watch second rate test cricketers. The administrators will kill test cricket because you can't prepare for a test by playing T20. You need first class cricket. Self-fulfilling prophecy. T20 will be the new test cricket. Or perhaps some other variation of it. People don't have patience anymore. Besides, we've been desensitised by TV networks & sporting bodies to watch quantity sport over quality sport. I'll be beyond caring.....

You phrase the question as ‘does’ Australian cricket treat T20 seriously enough when I think it should be ‘should’. And the answer to that, is no. Like I enjoy T20 cricket but no T20 match has even given me nearly as much joy as an Ashes series

I would find this difficult to comprehend at the best of times. The fact that i'm reading it on the eve of the second Ashes test has me utterly gobsmacked.

Nice read and has rightly generated lots of good opinion. I'll state up front that I am a purist and believe test cricket is the best version of the game. I have to agree with Paul D. To alter the development at grass roots to facilitate better t20 play would have a detrimental effect on technique and outlook for test cricket.

mds, have a look at 'last man stands' cricket, I was one of those who couldnt continue to commit to the longer forms of the game; this modified (8 per side) T20 comp has been the answer for me.

......T20 isn't Cricket & should be re branded as something else, i.e. Hit n' Hope........

I think you’re approaching it the wrong way, personally. This notion that we should upend the youth development and grade cricket world just to maybe get a few bowlers in a decade’s time who can bowl a mean slower ball bouncer, and batsmen who can switch hit with their eyes shut, is I think, an overreaction. Where the focus on grassroots 20/20 cricket should be, is for your older players who have left grade cricket behind because they don’t have the time or inclination to spend a whole Saturday wasting their lives a la the Grade Cricketer’s dismal nihilism. Your new dads & mums, players who have the new job, or travel, or new husbands/wives or young kids – where a whole day down the tubes for cricket can’t be done, a couple hours on a Sunday arvo or Sunday morning might be very doable. Children can be brought along to see Dad bat and hang out on the sidelines for a few hours. That’s where the 20/20 focus should be on, retaining players who no longer seek to play the game full-time, and only have time for social hit-outs. I used to work for last man stands cricket – a social 20/20 league that has a couple thousand players in most capital cities. Much of what I’ve outlined above is the secret of its appeal and success. You’ll find the free market is already taking steps to leave the ossified grade cricket scene in its wake

Isn't Premier Cricket in Victoria a stepping stone to 5ths in Sydney grade cricket?

South Africa has had the CSA T20 Challenge for about 14 years now, although it's nowhere near as lucrative as others. You're probably thinking of the failed Global T20 tournament they tried to set up.

No need for the sarcasm. We're producing fewer and fewer players who have the patience and application for long-form cricket. Other players are making the choice to focus on T20 cricket because of the better earning opportunities. So yes, in that respect it's clearly hurting the quality of cricket in the other forms of the game, regardless of the upsides T20 brings.

We are going to get to a point where T20 will dominate, an then it will be down to whether people have the same interest in it that they did with one day cricket or if will it carry on. T20 seems a lot like one day cricket to me. Eventually people now seem to regard it as boring. My other point about T20 is that it is marketed as the exciting version of cricket. Which by association the other forms are the boring old ones. T20 is hastening the demise of the other formats in the long run not funding their future. If we expand T20 are club level then we lose the skills required to play the longer formats. At some point CA will make a decision about which is more important. I would be shocked if it wasn't T20 as CA see the game as a commercial venture. T20 cricket is a very different game. Batting skills are different, conditions are different, Fielding skills are very different, catching positions are something that would disappear with a T20 dominated game. I just don't see how that it can co-exist with the longer formats if it becomes the dominate game for all levels. If Dane wants to improve the level of club T20 cricket the first thing they could do is improve the standard of the decks so the bowlers have little impact on the hitting freedom of the bats.

The BBL hasn't made money because Ten did a good deal with the rights. Next rights BBL will make money. In fact it will subsidise the longer versions. There is definitely money in T20. Facebook recently put in a losing bid of US$600m for the IPL. If I was a young cricketer with potential to play professionally I would definitely be expecting the powers that be to be scheduling T20

No as a coach I think T20 is the worst for younger players. It completely goes against what we try to teach young kids which is to bat time and build an innings. I don't want to see kids going out there and teeing off from ball one, I want to see them going out and looking to make big scores by batting long periods. There is a reason why junior teams these days are so often getting bowled out very cheaply and it is due to the influence of t20

The T20 leagues are not booming. The BBL, to me unbelievably, as not made money, of if it has it was only last year. The rest apart from the IPL lose money. South Africa couldn't even get one going as there was little interest. What they are doing is popping up everywhere with what seems little planning. We still have 3 formats to consider and plan for. The hardest to play is the longest format and that should be a focus. But it may warm your heart that kids are being taught T20 360 degree style batting so there will be plenty of focus on it in the future.

I suspect you're right on that.

Yeah, all those massive Tv audiences and near full stadiums for a domestic product is really hurting the game. Absolutely.

Cricket is an enormous time commitment. I wouldn't be surprised if there are people who gave the game away because they didn't want to spend 6 hours in the field on Saturdays who would be enticed back to the game by the prospect of playing T20 only; having a bat and a bowl and having the whole thing over in 3 hours.

Surely its hard to argue that we need more T20 cricket. Its already dominating to the detriment to the game. Enough already. My humble opinion.