T/20 - we love it!

I confess that I have enjoyed every ball, every stroke, every minute of the World T/20.

I realist that it will mean I am never again invited to Buck House for cucumber sandwiches, that my hope of a place in the House of Lords has slipped away and that I may have to return my Lotto winnings and my Malaya campaign medal.

Because, judging from the conversations I have heard around the nets, it is the view of my superiors that T/20 is still for oiks. This viewpoint was underscored at Lord's on Sunday when the seats at the front of the pavilion were empty while nearly 30,000 cricket lovers elsewhere in that lovely old ground where in extasy.

You don't need me to help you visualise the conversations around the stately homes, the posh clubs and the places where the gentry meet so that we cannot get at them, but the line "I would not be seen dead at a Twenty-20 game" must have had plenty of airing.

If that is the extreme traditionalist view I am glad I am on the opposite wing, cheering each bold stroke, laughing out loud every time I correctly anticipate the fall of a wicket and as joyous as any patriotic fan watching some of the most spectacular fielding of my lifetime.

There is no justification for the view that this is tip and run, devoid of genuine skill, relying on brute strength and good luck to obtain a result. Some of the captaincy has been in the Mike Brearley, Ray Illingworth, Steve Waugh class and much of the play has been imbued with a deep understanding from men who have served their apprenticeship in Tests.

I thought I might have that opinion on my own until I rang a friend who has served the game with his own brand of batsmanship and leadership. He is conservative who deplores those who abuse the game's finest virtues and intolerant of shifty tactics or cheap shots.

"How has the T/20 been for you?" I asked, expecting to be told the man, now well beyond threescore and ten, had rarely seen such rubbish.

"I have seen it all; sometimes at the ground, sometimes on the box," he said and went on to dissect every nuance. "I'm going tomorrow but I will go home and watch the second half on TV. You see more," he admitted.

So it is not just the racuous Asians, the kids and the supporters of the underdogs who have had a good time in the last fortnight. My friend and I - who have each devoted more than half an adult lifetime to cricket - love it so much we want to see more.

Perhaps by the time the next World T/20 comes round Lord and Lady Toffeenose of HQ may see the value in this short form of the game too.

Although I have my doubts.