The County Championship returns but the Twenty20 conundrum remains

Today I had the great privilege of sitting in the press box at the County Ground in Taunton to watch the exciting final day of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division One clash between Somerset and Kent. Unfortunately for the home side, some bold batting in the morning session and an ambitious declaration from former England opener and captain Marcus Trescothick, they were unable to force the win that would have put them right into title contention. This also raised another interesting question - how much has the explosion of Twenty20 impacted on the longer form of the game? And more pertinently, is this good or bad for the game?
This encounter was the first for both sides since the Twenty20 group phase - and allow that stage ended with a crushing win for Kent at Taunton, Somerset finished top of their pool, while Kent came seventh without threatening to qualify for the quarter-finals. Somerset are also top of their Clydebank 40 over group, while Kent lie third in theirs, and this form was reflected as Kent were relieved to escape the West country with a draw that still leaves them bottom of the top division, especially as captain and key batsman Robert Key is still out injured.
The match started positively for Kent, as they took seven Somerset wickets on a rain-affected opening day but the second day was extraordinary in comparison. A breezy 44 from Zander de Bruyn, and useful lower order contributions from Alfonso Thomas, Murali Kartik and Charl Willoughby took Somerset past the 200 mark. In reply, Kent started brightly thanks to Joe Denly (34) and Sam Northeast (24), but collapsed from 76-1 to 172 all out, thanks to a brilliant spell of spin from Kartik saw the Indian take 5-50, aided by Thomas (3-21) and Willoughby (2-46).
That left Somerset with a first innings lead of 33. Arul Suppiah, Trescothick and Jos Buttler gave Somerset a solid platform to leave them 128-2 at the end of day two, a lead of 161. And then, just as the home side were in the driving seat, the great British weather intervened yet again. Not a single ball was bowled in anger on the penultimate day, leaving a draw the most likely result. This is where the prevalence of the shortest form of the game came into play. Some expansive, and unorthodox, shots from Somerset's batsmen saw them make some quick runs before getting out to the sort of shots not usually associated with four day cricket. The chief culprits were Trescothick (80), Thomas (30), de Bruyn (43), James Hildreth (48) and Pete Trego (4). But this got Somerset into a position to win the match, and when they passed 300 for the innings, ans a lead of 334, Trescothick didn't hesitate in calling in Craig Kieswetter and Ben Phillips.
Although some of the purists of the game will have been aghast at some of the shots played, the men in the middle served their purpose - namely, quick runs which would give the bowlers something to aim at. 173 runs off 25 overs was not bad going for this format. In the end, Somerset left themselves with a little bit too much to do, and the target was not quite tantalising enough for Kent to really push for the win. The Spitfires finished 144 runs shy off the win, with three wickets remaining. Again Kent wasted a good start given to them by openers Denly and Northeast, as a opening stand of 67 soon became 166-6 as Kartik again got into the Kent upper and middle orders, leaving the veteran with match figures of 10-107, as he took five wickets in both innings.

This leaves Somerset trailing Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire in the race for the title, and the Sabres now have a home quarter-final in the Twenty20 against Northants Steelbacks on Tuesday to look forward to as Andy Hurry's men look to qualify for finals day for the third time. They won in 2005, beating Lancashire Lightning in the final, but lost last year's final against Sussex Sharks. But an important question has to be asked - is this truncated format good for the game? It has certainly increased the enjoyment factor, and has brought more fans through the gates. And looking around the faces in a Twenty20 sell-out crowd, it is fair to say the ECB has succeeded in their aim to make to make cricket more accessible to younger generations. The majority of matches which take place in midweek 'kick-off' at 5,30 or 7.30, enabling people to finish work and head straight to the grounds, having collected the kids from schools. This has generated the family atmosphere the ECB has been striving for. From the live performances (the likes of Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, Sugababes and Girls Aloud have performed on finals days), prizes for fans catching the ball, the short turnaround between innings, fast and frenetic hitting and gimmicks like the occasional jacuzzi, the fans have flocked through the turnstiles, and they continue to do so seven years after it's inception.
And it's not just England which has experienced this boom. There is obviously the lucrative IPL (Indian Premier League), which has attracted star players from all over the world to enhance its reputation. The success of the new format in England has also seen domestic competitions form in Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. And then there is obviously the big one - the Twenty20 World Cup, which gave England it's first title in any international cricketing competition in this summer's third edition of the event.
There are many more international Twenty20 options in the pipeline, which in essence is part of the problem. We are in danger of going into serious overkill amidst all the fun and razzmatazz. Some say we have already reached that point. This season's competition has seen each team play 16 matches in a period of just over a month, which would work out roughly a game every two days. If you include travelling distance and recovery time, this is simply too much. Part of this overkill is probably due to the fact that the ECB, along with every other cricket governing body, know this format is the best (and perhaps only) way to get mass exposure to the game.
But what impact does this have on the longer forms of the game? Twenty20 definitely improves its exponents in some ways which first-class cricket and even longer one-day cricket is not able to do, in terms of physical fitness, athleticism and adaptability. However, inevitably, on the flip side it teaches plenty of negatives - impatience, poor shot selection, the acquisition of bad habits and lapses in concentration, because the games are over in effectively a half day in test cricket terms. Take the example of Craig Kieswetter. The Somerset wicket-keeper was picked in the England one-day squad to play Bangladesh in February earlier this year soon after qualifying to play for England due to residency rules. A century and two failures later, and he was chosen as the glove-man for the Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies this summer. He was superb in the Caribbean - his match-winning 63 in the final against Australia saw him win the man-of-the-match award, and he scored 222 runs at a healthy average of 31.71 in the whole competition. But since returning, he has found no form whatsoever. He has been shocking in the one day international series against Bangladesh and Australia, with nothing even approaching 50, and he has been batting at six in the County Championship for Somerset. His coach and captain probably don't trust him higher up the order, as he hasn't shown the patience to dig in and play a long innings if needed, and has often got himself out with careless or reckless shots.
Kieswetter is one of the many examples of players who could almost be described as 'Twenty20 specialists,' and this trend looks likes continuing. The fear for many of the purists is this - younger players getting into the game will have more exposure to Twenty20 more than any other format, and therefore they'll think the only way to play will be to smack the ball for four or six, and won't teach young players the requisite technical skills. And it certainly won't encourage youngsters to become bowlers!
So what's the best way to enhance the standing of the game? In my opinion, test cricket should be returned to free-to-air television. The ECB should never have allowed Sky to snare live test match coverage from Channel 4, in the aftermath of one of the most exciting Test series in recent years when England sensationally won the Ashes in 2005 (four of the tests went down to the wire). But this doesn't seem likely to happen in the near future - a decision on whether future England home Ashes series will be shown on free-to-air TV has been deferred until 2013, according to Sports and Olympics minister Hugh Robertson. The more the players play Twenty20, the more these habits will be picked up. And with the likes of former Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist (and I feel he would have been a superb exponent of this format had he been playing in this generation) advocating it should be an Olympic event to give the sport even greater exposure, it seems this monster is only going to get bigger in the coming years.