Champions League Highlights and Lowlights

Some great batting recently in the Champions League, particularly from David Warner. Personally I have no problem with the likes of Warner and Pietersen playing left and right handed....bowlers don't have to tell the batsmen which way they want to spin or swing the ball, so why should a batsman who is capable of batting either way advertise what he intends to do in advance?

There's also been some good bowling - Alfonso Thomas' death bowling for Somerset in their last match was great to watch. Apart from odd eye-catching performances though, in general the standard of the cricket has been pretty poor overall I would say, particularly some of the bowling and fielding, which only adds weight to those that argue Twenty20 is "dumming down" cricket.

What isn't in doubt is how much the players want to win. Alfonso Thomas said that of all the competitions they entered this year, the Champions League is the one they want to win, and if you look at Virat Kohli, his eyes are nearly popping out of his head. He played a great innings yesterday, but I find it hard to believe that he can be thinking with a cool head when so hyped up. Gavaskar asked yesterday "if there was a better 21 year-old batsman in the world" and I agree he's extremely talented, but I'm not sure Twenty20 is going to help him realise that talent....certainly not in Test cricket anyway.

Who knows what impact Twenty20 will have on player skills long-term, but I do worry that basic cricket skills are being lost which will reduce the quality of Test cricket and therefore the audience for it.