'Staging Twenty20 WC is premature' : Cricketnext

Melbourne: 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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