October 10, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1429

MELBOURNE, Oct 9: The marketing man credited with inventing Twenty20 cricket has some concerns about the super-shortened format’s effect on the sport.

Stuart Robertson was marketing manager of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2000 when he devised the format for the 20-overs-a-side game, trying to overcome dwindling crowds at county matches.

Now star players having come out of retirement to sign lucrative contracts with the cashed-up Indian Premier League (IPL) and the game, packaged perfectly for three hours of TV or an afternoon or night away at a stadium, could spread to the US and even China.

Robertson said on Thursday he’s not sure whether the sport and its stars can be stretched so many ways in a schedule full of international commitments.

“That’s going to be a really tricky and interesting one going forward,” Robertson, now the commercial director of English country Hampshire, said at a Cricket Victoria lunch.

“If the model is to replicate the IPL, the IPL is so powerful because it has all of the world’s stars playing in it, I guess you’re going to come to a point where it gets saturated.”

England will next year host the second world championship and England, Australia and South Africa are also planning to improve their domestic competitions by attracting foreign players.

India will also host the inaugural Champions League competition later this year, featuring eight domestic Twenty20 teams representing five countries.

Robertson urged the ICC to monitor the amount of Twenty20 tournaments played, to prevent the risks of too much cricket and players getting burned out.

“I kind of wonder if the ICC should be playing a stronger role perhaps in managing it,” he said.

Robertson admitted the priorities of elite cricketers could change if Twenty20 continued its popularity.—AP