Cricket Australia has enough of Twenty20

ADELAIDE: Cricket Australia (CA) is happy with the decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) not to have a surfeit of Twenty20 matches and wants to develop the shortest form of the game more at domestic level first, the media reported here Monday.

CA public affairs manager Peter Young made it clear that the board has no intention of lobbying for more international Twenty20 matches despite claims that this form will inevitably replace the 50-over game, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.

ICC permits countries to host only three Twenty20 matches in their home summer and no more than two against one opponent. This means teams cannot play a best-of-three series, meaning one-day internationals retain their significance.

Australia this summer has increased its Twenty20 count to two, with the sell-out clash against New Zealand at the WACA Ground Tuesday night followed by another against India, Feb 1 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Melbourne match looms as a blockbuster and a major cash cow for Cricket Victoria, with a crowd of at least 60,000 expected, the daily reported.

While Twenty20 has become all the rage, Young says his board is more than comfortable with the ICC's guidelines.

"Our emerging view is that Twenty20 has to find a place that complements but does not compromise Test and ODI cricket that already exists. We have started to move towards the view that there is a lot of potential to develop it as an interstate style of product. That's where our focus is at the moment. But there is obviously an international place," Young was quoted as saying by the daily.