Guilty pleasure of the cave-dwelling heretic

To admit even a slight tolerance for Twenty20 is, in these leather arm-patched circles, a sporting heresy, says Richards Hinds in the Age. Worse, it makes you susceptible to the type of snobbish social stereotyping that will have your accusers wondering if you also harbour an opinion on the long-running Holden versus Ford dispute. But at the risk of never being invited to imbibe port in the member's dining room again, Hendricks is willing to admit it.

As the wise men of the game's establishment - even those who would rather be dragged by their MCC egg and bacon ties along cobblestoned streets than perform the Mexican wave - have observed, Twenty20 is not the death of Test cricket but potentially, its saviour. In the same way children learn skills through modified forms of the game, many enticed by the thrash-and-dash appeal of even-more-limited-over cricket will then gravitate to Test cricket.

Former international player Adam Parore, writing in the New Zealand Herald, says he expects IPL-type tournaments to sprout round the globe because they are the moneyspinners and right now the more of them the merrier.

International cricket will go the same way as international soccer and league. That is, country v country cricket will still be played, but I see the sport becoming increasingly dominated by franchises or clubs, in the same way soccer and league are. Put it this way: you see England or Brazil play perhaps 10 or 12 soccer internationals a year; but you can watch their best players turn out 40 or 50 times for Real Madrid or Chelsea. And look for a change in attitude from the leading players.