Ponting's last-minute plans

Australia's current side is the country's best-prepared unit, but Ricky Ponting's planning for the first Twenty20 international against New Zealand tomorrow was a hasty affair. Rather than skimming airport novels or greyhound form guides, Ponting swotted rules and game plans on the flight to Auckland as Australia push for a trifecta of successful Test, one-day international and Twenty20 debuts.

Ponting played one similar match for Somerset last year and the success of the game in England has guided third-generation cricket into the global arena. "I haven't actually captained one yet, so I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on and work out what to do and work out what the field restrictions are," Ponting said.

On the flight Ponting would have learned bowlers are restricted to four overs, two close catchers are needed for the first six overs and new batsmen have 90 seconds between dismissals to reach the crease. No-balls in the 20-over innings are worth two runs and are further punished with a free hit from the next delivery.

Ponting said the shorter game could help the 50-over format by producing even larger scores. "Everyone's talking about the one-day game being a bit old and a bit boring," he said. "The more Twenty20 cricket you play, your skills will get better and that will rub off in a 50-over game. If there are bigger scores being made in 50-over cricket then it will be attractive again."

Martin Crowe, who helped introduce third-generation cricket, believes a simple change to the fielding restrictions, which require a maximum of two players outside the inner circle for the first 15 overs, could bring the one-day game back to life. Crowe told NZPA the rule should be increased to 20 overs an innings, with the fielding captain choosing to apply them in four blocks of five overs. Under the plan there would be 10 overs of restrictions in each half of the innings.

"That's all one-day international cricket needs," he said. "Everything else is fine. It's just taking away the predictability of one-day cricket and bringing back that uncertainty, and giving it a bit more strategy and choice for the captain." Crowe does not believe Twenty20 will threaten the mid-length game.

Ponting does not expect players to pick up bad habits from the slog-fests and pointed to the 50-over game for examples. "If you have a look at what one-day cricket's done for Test cricket, I think it's been very positive," he said. "Who would've thought you could score 400 runs in a day of Test cricket, going back even 10 years?"

Australia won the first Test in 1877 at the MCG and the opening one-day international at the same ground in 1971, when an experimental match of 40 eight-ball overs was quickly scheduled as the third Australia v England Test was washed out.