By I.R. Fackrell, West Midlands, England

Maybe I’m getting old but I'm totally bored with the IPL, bored with EPL, ICL, PPL and talk of an extended Stanford 20/20. How can a six-hitting contest make so much money?

I was excited by the IPL at first because let’s face it the auctions and big name involvement was quite exciting. Anything to do with cricket that can make the top of the news in England has to be good for the game. But I think for me the attraction ended quickly after.

I enjoyed the first game when Brendon McCullum scored his 158 not out but it was probably also at that point when I became totally disinterested. The thing is a six in a Test match is a great event. It’s unusual and dramatic. A six in a 50-over game is less dramatic but still an event to excite. Twenty20 games have taken the buzz out of one of the great elements in cricket. Another six? So what!

I never thought I would say this but I cannot wait now for the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s. Proper cricket, hurrah! How wonderful it will be to see a bastman leave a ball, to see a bowler beat the bat and to sit in occasional tranquility like how cricket used to be.

I know how Twenty20 has performed miracles for cricket and has introduced new audiences to the game like women, children, families, puppies, kittens etc. but I believe it has also alienated the core following of the game.

When we keep hearing about the growth of Twenty20 and how great it is for the sport I think it is important for us to take a step back before we listen too deeply and look at who is saying those comments.

Players – they are going to support it even if it meant cricket would die from it because players are greedy, they just want to earn as much money as possible after years of jealously looking at footballers’ wages. Administrators – have you ever met an administrator who doesn’t want to earn more money even if it is at the expense of the game. They will justify it somehow. Commentators – they are part of the money train that is the IPL so their comments must be taken lightly also.   

Who can we trust now to look after the game? Someone somewhere needs to think beyond the money and start to think of the welfare of cricket again. Six after six, four after four…anyone hear about killing the goose that laid the golden egg?

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