All out for no loss

But behind the circus-comes-to-town mood of the Twenty20 World Cup, there will be real cricket played in South Africa over the next fortnight. Grab your seat fast before the tournament is over.

A short editorial on a short game. As we acquaint ourselves with the Twenty20 version of the sport that we are all familiar with, some ground rules as a spectator, whether in the stadium or in front of the television screen, could help you enjoy the experience. For starters, with each side batting for 20 overs and a general rush to deliver deliveries so that the match is wrapped up within three hours — 20-minute interval between innings included — it would be wise not to miss out on the action because of unprepared calls of nature.

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Which brings us to the matter of advertisements aired during Twenty20 matches. Will a sudden flurry of ads appear after each over and — if telecasts of one-dayers, not to mention Test matches are any indicator — make us miss vital moments of the match? These are questions that need to be answered before we give our thumb of approval to the new format of the game. The baseball-style dug-outs for players replacing that long walk to and from the dressing room should also make for enjoyable sidelights: Sourav Ganguly digging his nose; some Pakistani cricketer hitting his compatriot with a bat.

But behind the circus-comes-to-town mood of the Twenty20 World Cup, there will be real cricket played in South Africa over the next fortnight. Grab your seat fast before the tournament is over.