Twenty20 is a frustrating format: Andrew Symonds

Sydney, Sep 21 (UNI) Australian one-day specialist Andrew Symonds has given a big thumbs down to Twenty20 format, saying the shortest version of the game does not allow better teams to get back after some hiccuups.

''It's a frustrating game because you can be beaten by the lesser sides and they have to be good for a shorter period of time to beat you (with only fourty overs deciding the winner),'' Symonds said.

''At least in one-day cricket you get the chance to work your way back into the game if you get into trouble, the same as in Test cricket over a much longer period,'' he was quoted as saying by the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

Even though he does not likes it, Symonds understands that to make cricket a global sport, the 'slam bang' version of the game will prove to be the biggest tool in achieving this goal.

''Hopefully we don't lose the traditional side, the purer side of the game, I really hope that,'' he said.

''But by the same token, I think it will be healthy for the game that cricket does go into the echelons where soccer is going all over the world.'' His team mate and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist said, ''I think the more I play it, I'm probably liking it less as a player, but the more I see of it, the more I love watching it.'' ''I'm being more and more sold on why the public is so taken by this format. One over can really change a game and in a tight game it's really crucial.

''I'm still not totally convinced that over the short term the skills get to come through as much as they do in the longer formats, so that's evening the game up, which is a great spectacle,'' he added.

The ICC, though, have been wary to cap the amount of international Twenty20 games played outside a world championship with a limit of three home matches per year.

Fast bowler Brett Lee supports ICC on this, saying, ''At the moment they're probably doing it right as far as keeping it to small doses.'' ''If it's played too often it loses its novelty value, whereas if it's played at the start of a tour it's something different.

''And having competitions like this are great because it has its own little tournament,'' Lee added.

UNI