That has pretty much gone out of the window now, with concerns regularly being raised about the future of Test cricket and one-day cricket. Forget Twenty20, it’s Twenty20 club cricket that is now being seen as the future.

“Personally, I like the longer format. But at the end of the day, it’s really not about what I like or what you like, it’s about what the spectator likes. Though the one-day format would probably be the one to suffer first, I feel Test cricket needs to move on, it needs to reinvent itself and become more competitive. Every match has to stand for something, probably they need to work on the failed 1999 Asian Test championship experiment again (in which India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had faced off in Tests),” said Robertson, now involved with Hampshire cricket, his next aim getting the Rose Bowl stadium Test status.

But what about overkill? Isn’t Twenty20 in danger of going the one-day way — predictable to the point of being boring? “As of now, it seems unlikely. But I have an idea that could bring more intrigue into T20 cricket,” he laughed. Break the matches down into two innings of 10 overs each, he said, but with teams only having 10 wickets to play with over two innings. “Batsmen will have to play smarter cricket then, and it would give teams a chance to fight back.”

Don’t snigger — it might well be the future.