IT was the finest sporting spectacle this side of Anna Kournikova's locker room door - the World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Australia.

The game had everything, tension, pressure, excellence, human fallibility, comedy, farce and tragedy - pure theatre.

Surely, it was enough to reignite the nation's dormant passion for the jilted sport of Cricket.

Until, that is, the nation realised that the next instalment was a Test series against New Zealand.

That's a turn-off of Amelie Mauresmo proportions.

Doddery cricket chiefs the world over must realise that one-day cricket is the future of the game.

This is a marketable commodity. In contrast, first class cricket, for all its tradition and heritage, is dying a slow and painful death.

People no longer have the time, patience or inclination to watch the four or five day game.

Test matches in England are now just an excuse for a day's drinking.

While the splitting of the championship into two divisions is a step in the right direction, it is mere tinkering when whoelsale and bloody revolution is necessary.

Bob Woolmer and Ian Botham are the type of visionaries capable of grasping the nettle and leading the game into a brave new era. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, a series against New Zealand will involve 21 one-day games and perhaps a token Test match.

This will facilitate the formation of an on-going and intriguing world championship, perhaps run on a squash ladder format.

Two short term steps are essential.

The first is to rip up the English Cricket Board's blueprint for the future of the game, which has a central tenet that Test match cricket is the be-all and end-all.

Instead of trying to introduce 'proper' cricket into recreational cricket, the opposite should apply and more and more short, sharp, shock cricket should be played by the counties.

Secondly, the MCC coaching manual should be shredded boilied in sulphuric acid.

Youngsters should be encouraged to heave the ball over cow shot corner. It is often more productive than a glorious and technically perfect cover drive.

And it is much more fun. Ask Lance Klusener.

Neil Bramwell is the Sports Editor

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.