Thunder.. Aussie slogger David Warner will be one of the big attractions.

Australia will become the latest country to start their own lucrative Twenty20 cricket competition when this Friday the Sydney Sixers take on the Brisbane Heat at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

It’s certainly had its fair share of hype, with each of the states ditching their traditional colours for more 80’s-retro outfits, some of which are cringe worthy.

Worryingly, it joins the IPL in India as a franchise-based slog fest.

Yes, it will draw massive crowds and will probably be viewed in the bigger picture as a successful competition.

However, my biggest concern continues to be the integrity of the sport when it comes to such tournaments.

Businessman and investors are only looking for one thing out of leagues like the aforementioned; money. They know that income will come and lots of it, so really it’s a no brainer.

You could argue that all sport these days is money-based and you’re probably right. However, when you look around the world at other sports, the most heavily invested sports and teams are playing at the highest level.

Take Manchester City in the English Premier League. Absolutely ridiculous amounts of money being spent by the sheiks, but now City are challenging for the title in arguably the best league in the world.

There can be no doubt that Twenty20 cricket is the glamour side of cricket. Test cricket is still the ultimate level. But with competitions like the Big Bash, money is thrown at players to play a form of cricket that requires less skill.

Twenty20 may be the younger brother to Test cricket, but boy he’s getting more girls than Test cricket had all his life.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Twenty20 cricket is great fun and I’ll definitely be heading down to the SCG for a few games this season. But the long term future of test cricket does worry me.

With more tournaments like this, the crowds only get smaller during tests. Therefore the less financial backing and eventually serious complications will have to be looked at.

Twenty20 cricket is important for cricket worldwide, as long as the players know that test cricket will forever be the greatest check on ability, character and determination.

For more information regarding the upcoming Big Bash League, visit the following link for all the news: http://www.weekendnotes.com/big-bash-league/.

Majestic... Hashim Amla was one of the many stars in the South Africa v India series.

However, after the three tests, solitary T20 and five ODI’s, it is perhaps fitting that the aggregate score was left level at 4-4.

Each team won one test, South Africa won three ODI’s, whilst India won two ODI’s and the T20.

The tightness of the series is testament to the 4-4 score line, with neither team every really getting ahead of their opponents. It is perhaps fitting to, as at this moment, these two sides are probably the most consistent over all three formats of cricket currently being played.

It also no doubt makes for what should be quite a fascinating World Cup in a few weeks time, with both these teams in decent form, Australia playing well against England and New Zealand snapping their losing streak against the always lively Pakistan.

India has found a proven match winner in Yusuf Pathan, who will enter the tournament as one of the best limited overs batsman in the world.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Hashim Amla continues his months of good form, proving his ability in test matches is just as good in ODI’s.

New stars were also unearthed including promising young South African fast bowler, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and power hitter Morne van Wyk.

On the Indian side of things Cheteshwar Pujara was impressive despite scoring massive runs while Parthiv Patel looks a different player to a few years ago. We also saw a magic spell of test match bowling by the rejuvenated Sreesanth in the third test, however, he does need some fine tuning on his attitude.

Dale Steyn proved his status as the best fast bowler in the world and his mini battle with possibly the second best seamer in Zaheer Khan was a joy to watch during the tests.

Although, there are a couple of form concerns for India with Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina as they head into the World Cup.

On the whole though, this Indian tour of South Africa has indeed been memorable. Sachin’s 50^th test hundred, Ntini’s farewell, rise of Tsotsobe, Jaques Kallis’ master classes and of course India’s ability to fight back was impressive.

Bring on the World Cup.

Twenty20... It's constant entertainment.

On an international stage we have seen the rise of the Twenty20 World Cup, won most recently by Pakistan which in itself brings greater interest to this form of the game as Pakistan aren’t considered powerhouses of international cricket, and on the domestic stage we have Twenty20 domestic leagues in India (The IPL), Australia (the Big Bash) and England (Twenty20 Cup).

We have also seen the emergence of the Twenty20 Champions League which takes all the domestic winners of their respective T20 competitions and pits them against each other to determine the world champion T20 outfit.

Not bad for a form of cricket that was only established in 2003, right?

This massive growth in the shortest version of the game has shown just how popular T20 cricket has become to fans from all over the world. A whole match can be watched in just over three hours, which is a lot more convenient than the other shorter form of the game in One Day Internationals (ODIs)…well that and the spectacle that is T20 cricket. Fast paced, explosive action for twenty overs each side that excites audiences and puts them on the edge of their seat. That will pull crowds every day of the week.

Records often tumble on a game-by-game basis in this form of the game and some of the figures are astounding. Yuvraj Singh currently holds the record for the fastest fifty in T20 cricket in an amazing twelve balls. Yes that’s right, TWELVE balls. That is a strike rate of over four hundred. Let me put that in Lehman’s terms for those who aren’t familiar with cricketing jargon; Singh was hitting an average of 4.16 runs for every ball he faced in that innings. It’s no wonder why people keep flooding the grounds for every T20 game held at either state or international level. It is almost like a new buzz and atmosphere comes over the ground in a T20 game.

Compare this, in stark contrast, to the current state of ODIs. To put it simply, they are in trouble. Viewers are finding them boring, with generally only the first five overs and the last five overs creating any excitement for the crowd. The middle forty overs in each innings are leaving a lot to be desired from the crowd’s point of view as they are growing weary of the slow run rates and lack of boundaries generalised with this part of the innings.

Compare the T20 match between Australia and Pakistan at the MCG on Friday night. A whopping 60,045 people turned out to watch the twenty overs per side fixture. Two days later at the same venue, a meagre 25,463 people showed to watch the opening one day match against the West Indies. Hardly impressive figures when compared to the massive numbers pulled by T20 crowds, even with the exciting Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard featuring in the travelling side.

But what is the remedy to these falling numbers and what seems to be an insurmountable task of becoming the most popular shorter form of the game? There have been suggestions to shorten ODIs to forty overs per side, but in reality, will this make this form of the game any better? It will surely just shorten the length of the game and will be seen as a way of replicating T20s, driving popularity even further down.

Another idea is to shorten the series length of ODIs, which seems to be the most feasible idea as 7 match series’ can often be stale and repetitive if a side happens to take an unassailable lead. Making ODIs a scarcer spectacle in cricket could also drive up anticipation and therefore numbers entering grounds.

Whatever decision the ICC makes, which is bound to be forced upon them soon with the current state of the game, the T20 format of the game not only looks like a smash-hit, but is also here to stay.