[cricket short game formula] why not 40-40 in four halves?

This blog is biased towards test cricket over the multi-coloured clowns and always has been. In the days when Yallop led his men against Brearley in that press-on-regardless series of tests at the time of World Series Cricket, when the national teams were deserted in the interests of money by the so-called stars of the time - I was at the test matches, not with the clowns.

However ...

The idea of the 50 over match did grow and it was an"all right" formula for some time as a light counterpoint to the long game.

But ...

There were problems with the formula and circles, fielding restrictions and over restrictions notwithstanding, the 50 over format began to pale a bit. Twenty20 had a much greater chance of success in that it could all be over in an afternoon and didn't suffer quite so much if time was lost to rain. This is also the case with test cricket - there's always tomorrow if one day is rained out.

Having played 20 over cricket, might I posit that it's also too short as a national spectacle. OK for schoolboy matches but the inducement to play rashly within that timeframe is not entertainment, certainly not for those who love the game. I can't see what the pleasure is in seeing blasters and slashers the whole 40 overs. Where's the intrigue, where's the drama?

Tendulkar says 25 x 2 x 2 is the way to go but it lengthens the one day to an awfully long time for the spectators, let alone the players. If it goes to two days, then what's the point? Might as well go the whole hog and have a proper test. 40 over is nice and brings it back to just about the right length.

30? 35?

Why not 40-40 in four halves? Right length for the day in terms of total over numbers but here's my idea - instead of a brand new start in the second innings, it carries on from where you left off at the end of your first twenty. So, if you were 124 for 5 at the end of the first innings, you'd come back for the second at that point and go from there. If you were bundled out during that second half of your innings, that would be the end of it, so spectators would get a shortened entertainment time.

On the other hand, it would encourage teams not to play the slash game, in order to preserve wickets for the second innings, on the basis that the maximization of the number of balls bowled leads to a greater chance of aggregating runs, however slowly [natch]. The emphasis would then be on staying alive for the full overs.