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OK I know this will anoy some purists but why bother with boring 5 day stuff when the IPL gives fantastic entertainment twice a day for a few weeks every year. In between the ICC could organise a T20 world cup every year and any time left could be speant playing the 50 over game. Not only would this be a comercial sucsess but we might even interest our American cousins in the game.

mpij wrote:we might even interest our American cousins in the game.

Doubtful. Baseball is already excruciating... ~5 minutes worth of action drawn out over 3.5 hours. Cricket accomplishes the same amount of action, but it takes ~3.5 days to do it.

Clearly neither of you were at the Oval in 2005 (day 5 thriller - we beat Australia); Lord's 2011 ( similar theme, India; Barbados 2004 (we beat West Indies to secure our first series win there in about 30 years and Matthew Hoggard got a hatrick bowling to a field of 7 slips and 2 gullies! I am sure others here will add to my list.

In addition, I remember few T20 games I attended but one of my fondest memories (above those above I attended) is Lord's in (I think 1999) when I saw my first Test match from start to finish and we beat West Indies having seen all 4 innings on day 2.

I appreciate it is a significant time commitment (one not terribly compatible with my role as father of 2 young boys) but the strategy and evolution of game fascinate me! I am a member of 2 clubs and both boys have been Surrey CCC members ALL their lives!

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I am not and never have been a cricketer myself, but as an englishman and avid sports spectator the Ashes is just about as exciting as it gets (2006 excepted!).

However (as i understand it), Test cricket is not in great health in a number of the biggest cricketing nations - T20 is great, but in my opinion it would be a shame if its continued expansion were at the expense of the longer form of the game.

As for the USA, i remember cycling back into Manhattan from Westchester County on a Sunday afternoon back in 2008 and being absolutely astounded by the number of cricket games i passed on the way....

Glenn E. wrote: Baseball is already excruciating... ~5 minutes worth of action drawn out over 3.5 hours. Cricket accomplishes the same amount of action, but it takes ~3.5 days to do it.

I have never been able to derive any real excitement from watching Baseball, but was recently recommended this book as a good comparison of the two sports by someone who has played both professionally.

I like the 20 over game, but love the 5 day game. The 5 day game has more time to develop; tactics and game play become more relevant. The skill of the batsman and bowler has to be different in each of these two forms of the game.

In both forms of the game you get exciting games and one-sided games that are a waste of time and money.

But I just cannot warm up to the 40 / 50 over version. I wonder why it is still being played, other than as a result of history. I would honestly prefer to see 2 back-to-back 20 over games than a single 50 over game.

I have to agree the Ashes can give good entertainment, I remember botham single handedly beating the Aussies many years ago, although I think my favourite moment was Gatting being bowled round his legs by Shane Warne(best captain Australia never had). I also have fond memories of test Match Special on radio 3, it was always entertaining even if the cricket was mince, in fact evcen when there was no cricket. It was an artform in it's own right.