Australian Cricketers' Association Chief Paul Marsh has criticised the
International Cricket Council for premature staging of the Twenty20 World
Cup this year, saying the initial focus should be its development at domestic
level.
"The administrators need to work out, is Twenty20 serious cricket or is it
purely entertainment. The way that it started off, it was very much entertainment,"
Marsh said.
"All of a sudden you introduce a world championship (to be played in South Africa
in September) like they've done and it legitimises this form of the
game," he was quoted as saying by 'The Sydney Telegraph'.
Many countries countries, including India and Sri Lanka,
don't have a domestic Twenty20 tournament yet.
"We couldn't understand how the ICC were putting together
a world championship when it had not even formalised what its position was on
Twenty20 cricket. Domestically is where the initial focus should be.
"It has been very successful in Australia for the two
years that we've had it here and we'd prefer not to see it over-exposed internationally
at this stage. The crowds have been enormous and TV ratings have been very strong."
Marsh also said the shortest version needed to be treated as a serious competition
and with more respect, not something based on "gimmicks" as described
by Ian Chappell.
"It hasn't really been positioned as serious cricket.
As Ian Chappell has said, 'the game has to move in that direction and away from
on-field gimmicks'."
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