大象传媒

Mark Ramprakash explores the impact Twenty20 has had on cricket ten years since it was introduced and discovers what was first seen as a gimmick by some is now funding the county game - for some clubs like Yorkshire and Leicestershire t20 matches provides additional money and can account for 70 per cent of their domestic income. Yorkshire's director of cricket Martyn Moxon says initially they didn't quite take it seriously -treating it as a bit of fun but now it's this form of cricket that's financially lucrative . Leicestershire's County Cricket Club's chief executive Mike Siddall is clear too about the clubs future - the revenue they now generate from one t20 match funds not just one but two of the 4day county championship matches. But is there a danger that Twenty20 is getting to too dominant ? And what about on a international level , the Indian Premier League - the IPL the largest and financially the most lucrative of the Twenty20 tournaments has already changed the landscape of cricket. Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest batsmen the world has seen says in India it is becoming harder to attract large crowds to Test cricket as they prefer to go the IPL tournament.
So if a country like India is struggling to pull in a crowd for Test cricket, should this be a warning to England? Added to this some international players now prefer to play in the IPL over Test cricket because of the money available it's an issue that's only going to become further ignited. So what of the future Twenty20 or can Test cricket battle on?

Presenter Mark Ramprakash
Producer Perminder Khatkar and Nikesh Rughani.