Many years ago, FairgroundTown spent the better part of a year living in Atlanta. We dated some nice girls, and ate some fine pizza; but looking back, I think we must have spent most of the time watching baseball. Having grown-up on cricket, we fell instantly in-love with America's Pastime. It seemed to share cricket's elegance and sense of history; but it was also some things that cricket wasn't - big-hitting and fast-moving! So what's our problem with 20-TWENTY?

It Isn't Big Hitting
We've watched a few games this season, and a better description might be Big Nurdling! Batsmen work the ball around a lot, and they play some unorthodox shots, but the big hits are nowhere to be seen. We believe this is because they carry too much risk or, to turn the argument on its head, wickets are too costly. We were interested to observe that in Australian beach cricket (which really is pure entertainment) wickets cost the batsmen runs, but do not send him back to the dressing room. We are not suggesting this should happen in 20-TWENTY, but perhaps if there were two innings per team, the batsmen might chance their arms a little more.

There Isn't Any Back-And-Forth
In baseball, each time has nine (yes, nine) short innings in which to make their runs, so the game can ebb and flow. The lead might change several times over the course of the evening, and, right up until the "9th", there is always another chance. In contrast, too may 20-TWENTY games are over before they've begun. A second innings would address this one too; and because this is the way test matches work, even the purest of purists would have little right to complain.

There Aren't Enough Games
The Atlanta Braves play 160 games in a regular season, 99% of which are broadcast live on TV. You get to know the players, the coaches, the ball-park... everything! You build a relationship with your team, and it becomes part of your life. In contrast, 20-TWENTY is the focus of just a few short weeks of the season, and even then each team appears only a handful of times on the small screen in your living room. If the ECB really want to create a "product" here, they should run it all season, and make sure that all games are available to TV viewers, perhaps via a Wimbledon-style "red button". Then I'd start to identify with my team. Then I'd start to care.

In England... It Rains
We know we are really in clouds with this one, but baseball addressed its weather issues years ago, with indoor stadiums which mean games are rarely cancelled. The lords of the game won't want to hear it, and their accountants certainly don't, but if cricket is ever to regain its position at the pinnacle of our sporting culture, it needs to be played, and if indoor (or roofed) stadiums are the means to this end, then it needs to happen.

We passionately believe that cricket is not a lost cause – and that 20-TWENTY might just be its salvation – spectator numbers have been positive, and we are looking forward to the 20-TWENTY world cup with more excitement than the up-coming rugby version. But this is a game which needs to evolve or it will die, perhaps brining test cricket down with it. And that wouldn't be cricket!