Arthur plays down Twenty20

19 August 2008

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur is keen to ensure that there is not a global overkill of Twenty20 cricket and admitted his team would have used tomorrow’s abandoned match as practice for the NatWest Series.

Despite millions of pounds being pumped into the 20-over game across the globe, it has yet to impact on the international scene via regular fixtures.

“It plays a huge role at domestic level and the injection of Twenty20 has been fantastic for world cricket,” said Arthur. “Perhaps domestically is where the target market for it is.

“Internationally it is good to play a world tournament once every two years and to have a little international to almost launch your one-day campaign.

“Domestically it could be the lifeblood of the game, and has a huge amount of relevance and importance there.

Morne Morkel is suffering from a side strain and will be assessed this week

Buy this photo

“But I don’t think there should be overkill of Twenty20 at international level, simply because it is the lifeblood of the domestic game.

“Overkill would take a little bit of the gloss off it, so we have to watch out how much we expose it at international level.”

Although England host the Twenty20 World Cup next year, the short version’s impact on the world scene has been limited to the equivalent of entrees to one-day series.

Such is the scarcity, in fact, that the rain-wrecked match at the Riverside would only have been South Africa’s second Twenty20 match of 2008.

“In a way we use this to sharpen up our disciplines ahead of Friday,” said Arthur. “Twenty20 is very much on its own as a lottery which can go either way.

“We fully regard the one-day series as being five matches and that starts on Friday.”

South Africa, whose practice sessions have been restricted mainly to indoor facilities, are hoping brothers Morne and Albie Morkel can prove their fitness ahead of the series opener at Headingley Carnegie.

Test bowler Morne is suffering from a side strain and Albie from a shoulder complaint - both were ruled out of South Africa’s plans for the Twenty20 contest.