If it was left up to fans, we’d see a lot more Twenty20 cricket. With a
record crowd crammed into the Gabba last night, they hooted and
hollered and waved their placards at everything from Damien Martyn’s
big-hitting to the breakdancing (yes, breakdancing) put on between
overs.

Last night’s game was a celebration of hit and giggle. It was mostly
exciting for its novelty. While in the field, the captains answered
questions from the commentary box. Moments after one such exchange,
Ricky Ponting swooped on a ball and threw down the stumps. It was good
TV and good cricket.

But for all that, the atmosphere wasn’t as infectious for the home
viewer. It was almost sad watching an elite batsman like Jacques Kallis
swinging his bat in hopeless desperation and so obviously forcing his
body to behave in a way that goes against his cricketing instincts.

Of course, it’s a format devoured by TV. It neatly fits into a
three-hour block, with teams penalised six runs per minute for going
over their
allotted 75 minutes (don’t want to upset the programmers, after all).
Fans get an entire game of cricket in three hours, sans the boring bits
usually associated with one-day cricket.

Except for the second innings. As Mark Taylor commented last night,
Twenty20 is just as likely to deliver one-sided games and woefully
boring run chases as the 50-over version. Despite the success of last
night’s event, it wasn’t a game of cricket. It was blokes slogging in
the first innings, and then blokes going out in the second. In other
words, it was a highlights package. At least no-one pretended
otherwise.

After the match, Ricky Ponting, who had been sceptical about the concept, gave it his endorsement but warned it could get tired very quickly if overused.

Everyone else, including the South African captain Graeme Smith, agreed
the players had put on a great show. Not a good game or a worthy
contest or a fine display of sporting prowess or cricketing skill. It
was, at the end, a good show.