Despite fears before it commenced, the quality of cricket played in the games has generally been good. Top players have been eager to play their part for their team.

The huge sums of money involved will promote the development of young players whilst money will filter down to local club sides.

Despite much anxiety and the amount of money being poured into it, I don't believe that the Twenty20 format is a threat to Test cricket, because they are so different. In fact, I would argue that Twenty20 cricket will actually serve to create added interest in the Test format, as the form is easier to understand and get involved in, but is a relatively shallow experience, which will lead to fans looking to the longer form of the game for more depth and intensity. The Ashes will always be the most important cricket for England and Australia and the history behind this form of the game makes it too important to die out.

As for 50 over cricket, I would agree that this is severely threatened by Twenty20 cricket, but is this really a bad thing? After all, 50 over cricket is a cross between these two forms of cricket, but doesn't seem to be as good as either. The only significance it seems to have as a competition is the history of it's World Cup and yet the Twenty20 World Cup was also far more successful than the most recent dire 50 over World Cup. If the 50 over game did disappear it wouldn't be missed.

The IPL and other Twenty20 appear to be undermining 50 over form of the game. Players will be able to earn far more for a 20 over game than for a 5 day test.

The excitement of 20/20 is very obvious. What is also obvious is the fact that there is a huge amount of money to be made in this competition. However, my point is whether the authorities will create so many different 20/20 competitions within the cricket calendar that it will lead to fans becoming bored of it. For example, the IPL is already a part of the cricketing calendar, the champions league will soon become another, then the 20/20 world cup, and of course the original 20/20 league. It just seems that people have realised the potential of 20/20 and are trying to change too many things in order to accommodate it.

With all the top players in the world playing in the IPL, where does this leave the development of Twenty20 in the domestic leagues of the rest of the world? I am aware that there have been moves to create a "Champions League" (last year foiled by security issues), but would this really be satisfying? The ideal is that you'd have the best English team against the best Australian team etc. However, because of the relative power of the IPL what really exists is an English domestic side playing an side full of international players from across the globe. It is fantastic that the IPL has taken initiative and made such an engrossing Twenty20 competition, but with no competition from any other leagues, it is strangling the talent out of the rest of the world game.