Less is more when it comes to t20 treadmill

It's a funny time to be a cricket fan at the moment. We're in June, the sun has just about arrived and yet all we seem to have had so far is a one-sided mauling of Bangladesh in the Test arena. Coming up is a one day series against Australia who shouldn't really be here anyway given England will be defending the Ashes Down Under this winter. The ECB would seem to be hell-bent on tarnishing its prize asset, namely the rivalry for the urn.

But it's the domestic t20 that seems to me a classic case of less is more. This year we have a total of 151 games up from 97 in 2009. Crowd numbers have been patchy at best and the players might be forgiven for waning enthusiasm. Tonight Nottinghamshire play their sixth game in eight days against Derbyshire. How on earth are counties expected to sell three games a week to the public when there's a recession and a World Cup on?

At this time of year England is one of the few places in the world where cricket can be staged yet we seem determined not to devise a meaningful and streamlined competition that can be enjoyed by players and the public alike.

Even the football World Cup will be long finished by the time the t20 marathon comes to an end. Little wonder that the man responsible for bringing t20 to the world, Hampshire's Stuart Robertson, feels this form of the game is now at something of a "crossroads...there are some interesting decisions ahead."

A streamlined city based franchise format that runs on days of the week that people can get used to would seem a bold step forward. If the ECB cannot bring itself to upset the counties then at least let's have a competition that lasts no longer than four weeks and has a clear start and end time.

This may be the shortest format of the game but it is in serious danger of overkill. Less really is more.

A man for all seasons

ONE man who seems to be enjoying the t20 treadmill is Adam Gilchrist. This week saw the Aussie legend, now plying his trade for Middlesex, return to Richmond where he starred as a 17-year-old. He remains vice-president of the club and every year for the past six he sponsors an Australian to spend a summer at Old Deer Park.

Such a link is a reminder that international cricket can create lifelong bonds and doesn't have to be a transient affair where players are more interested in lining their pockets than embracing other cultures.

On High Street Kensington yesterday I walked past the unmistakably wiry figure that is Gilchrist wearing shades and with a bouncing child in tow. He looked like a man entirely at ease with his lot. He has every right to be — considering his massive contribution to the game.

Cricket's finest purveyors of prose

THE Wisden Cricketer is on a very sticky wicket indeed. It is taking on the tough job of choosing the best ten cricket books of all time. Beyond a Boundary by CLR James and Mike Brearley's The Art of Captaincy will almost certainly qualify. Two personal favourites worthy of the scorer's notebook are Simon Hughes's A Lot of Hard Yakka and Robert Winder's Hell For Leather in which he followed the 1996 World Cup in Asia in a journey as entertaining as it was prescient.