Which type of cricket is best?

There are three different types of international cricket to watch nowadays:

1.       Test Match

2.       One Day Internationals (ODIs)

3.       Twenty20 Internationals

Now, like most people my other half won’t allow me to watch all of the stuff that’s televised, so I have to choose very carefully so I can claim the maximum quota available without having to sit through stuff I’m not really that bothered by. It’s a tough choice and one I’m sure many people empathise with.

The reason there are 3 different types is surely because there’s a market for all three, and I reckon these are the markets:

·         Test Matches – aimed at the cricketing purest and the fan who either still plays or used to play regularly. They understand the intricacies of the game and have hours of time on their hands in which to watch the game.

·         Twenty20 Internationals – aimed at the cricket fan who likes a fast game, with something happening at all times. Played a lot under floodlights, it’s a good night out for a few drinks with friends. The bowler bowls, the batsmen hit, nothing more complicated than that.

·         One Day Internationals – this is a halfway house between the two previous incarnations of the game, where there’s a bit of intricacy and a bit of wham and/or bam. For people who would like to watch a Test Match but have a job to go to.

The choice is, of course, down to each individual. I like them all, but would put them in this order of preference: Test Match, Twenty20, ODI. The reason behind putting ODI as my least favourite is that it never quite makes up its mind whether to play the long, set a batsman up over a number for overs before dealing the killer blow, game or whether the players just go for it with both ball and bat. Parts of the game drift and seem endless. If you cut out the 30 overs in the middle, it would be great, but they already do that and call it Twenty20. Innovations such as powerplays for both batting and fielding sides have helped a little, but I get the impression that the public’s love affair with it is on the wane a little, certainly in Britain.

The biggest market for cricket is the sub-continent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) and they love ODIs and Twenty20s, mainly because the pitches they produce lead to boring draws for Test Matches, but produce loads of runs in limited overs cricket.

I suppose that the simple fact that cricket has different versions of the games that appeal to as many people as possible can only be seen as a good thing. The more people who watch it, the more money is generated and the better it gets.

In which case, all forms of the game are brilliant. Carry on as usual.