The semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty 20 take place this evening and on Friday, with the final on Sunday. We’ve had the pleasure of a number of international Twenty 20 teams in South Africa, with their high profile players and it is great to see that cricket is still popular. I say that, because I think it is one of those sports where they really have oversaturated the market, perhaps not in India and Pakistan, given the love of cricket on the sub-continent, but for me, and probably after watching the Proteas stumble so many times, I really do think there are simply too many tournaments and too many sub-species of the game.

I cannot see how 50 over matches continue to be popular, squeezed in between 20 over matches and 5 day tests, but for now, all seems well with cricket and what I consider to be oversaturation does not seem to be affecting them. I just wonder how long it will be before it does flow through to some of the events. You can already see it in rugby where, as a result of an expanded Tri-Nations, where we now have four nations, Currie Cup rugby matches are getting much smaller attendance figures than previously. I suppose on the other hand maybe it is already happening in cricket, but we accept it, because everybody knows that almost nobody goes to watch provincial cricket anymore but I wonder for how long Twenty 20 type teams that draw their players from various countries will find support.