20/20 Cricket and the future of the game

The Allen Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament in the West Indies has been hailed by many while some astute connoisseurs of the game appear somewhat despondent and suggest that it is the beginning of the end of the game as we know it.

20/20 cricket
The intention is manifold.
Each team is allowed to face a maximum of 20 overs during which time they are expected to try to score as many runs as possible.
The batsmen are therefore expected not to attempt to settle in the wicket as happens in the longer Test match version of the game but instead to go after the bowling regardless of the state of the team at the time or the quality of the bowler at the opposite end.
Batsmen are not expected to play any defensive strokes but rather to create new strokes to match the attempts by bowlers to get them out.
It is therefore quite common to find that batsmen are virtually well down the wicket before the bowler even delivers the ball.
Boundaries are the most welcome aspect of the batsman`s game. It is a matter literally of the more the merrier.
Singles are taken, if at all, at great risk to the batsmen involved.
Bowlers spend almost all of their time trying to keep the ball at the batsman`s feet in an effort to limit this capacity to get at the ball with any chance of scoring big. The fielders are all committed to ensuring that runs are kept to a minimum at all times.
In a sense the 20/20 cricket has emerged from an analysis of the flagging attendances around the world at the five-day Test matches. They have also analysed the growing crowds that have fund their way to the One Day matches especially at the Quadrennial World Cup.