Less is More

Although he's best known as a football writer, I regard Martin Samuel as just about the best sportswriter currently working in Britain; intelligent, clear-thinking and unafraid to tell it as he sees it. I try not to make a habit of reading the Daily Mail, so I haven't seen much of his stuff recently, but this caught my eye yesterday.

I don't agree with all of it, but the central thrust - that the expansion of the English T20 competition this season has all but ruined it - seems to be me to be pretty accurate.

Because of work, the World Cup and other commitments, I haven't seen as much as in previous years, but the overall impression is of a competition which is just going on and on and on, without many people really knowing or caring where it's leading.

Twenty20 has many virtues - brilliant fielding, an inbuilt focus on innovation - but much of the excitement it generates is repetitive and, ultimately, can be monotonous.

Sports administrators, especially when they've got witless marketing people shouting in their ear, always have trouble understanding that less can sometimes be more.

It'll be interesting to see where they decide to go from here.