Australia v Pakistan: Mickey Arthur wants to get rid of international Twenty20 matches

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Mickey Arthur believes Twenty20 cricket should become the sole domain of franchises to give ailing one-day internationals a much-needed point of difference.

The Pakistan coach believes that is the way to bring fans back to the 50-over version of the game after just 21,734 watched Australia's 92-run victory in Friday night's ODI series opener at the Gabba.

Arthur was also in the stands on Wednesday night when the Perth Scorchers beat the Brisbane Heat by 27 runs in the Big Bash League, and felt the buzz of competition that has taken Australian audiences by storm in the last few years.

The crowd of 34,677 that night set a new domestic record for the Gabba, while next week's clash between the Heat and the Melbourne Renegades is already sold out.

"It was an amazing atmosphere - it's show business, that reminded me of going to a basketball," Arthur said.

"It was brilliant. As pure cricket, (it was) OK.

"Fifty-over cricket's got a definite role because of the World Cup, because of international rankings there's context.

"I do think, though, that Twenty20 cricket should become franchise dominated.

"I've never been a massive advocate of international Twenty20 cricket except a World Cup every two or three years, because that gets the best players together.

"International cricket belongs in the 50-over and Test cricket (formats) for me."

Arthur was disappointed Pakistan defaulted to playing what he said was the "old style" of 50-over cricket against Australia, and weren't aggressive enough in their run chase to keep up with trends he said were a direct result of T20's explosion.

Big Bash sensation Chris Lynn made his ODI debut for Australia and while he only made 16, he clubbed one giant six into the grandstands and on another day might have scored big.

Arthur said Lynn was an example of where he thinks the game is going.

"I think one-day cricket's moved on. Scores of 300 are the norm. 300 used to be incredibly good and teams used to win more times than not," he said.

"On good wickets like this, though, that's a 50-50 score.

"We need to improve our strike rates all the time. They are not where they need to be for us to get 300. We're working all the time on our game to get that 300."

AAP

Topics: cricket, sport, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, pakistan

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