Botham slams Twenty20 cricket

English legend Ian Botham lashed out at the cricket administrators for shoving more and more Twenty20 down the fans' throat and said the slam-bang format, which is 'bastardising the game', has no place in international cricket.

Botham lambasted the "greed" of the administrators and questioned the logic behind having back-to-back Twenty20 World Cup.

"They are playing too much Twenty20 right now. We have just had a Twenty20 World Cup and within a year we're going to have another in the Caribbean. It is greed, greed, greed. That is what will kill the game, the greed of the authorities," Botham said in an interview to be published in the December issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine.

"Twenty20 has its place but not on the international stage. It is a domestic and franchise sport. I don't want to see the best players in the world standing there and slogging. Twenty 20 is bastardising the game," said Botham.

Dwelling on the England team and its tour of South Africa, Botham said Andrew Strauss should be more aggressive as a captain. "What he has done best is get better with the bat. He will learn to be a better captain, too, and I just hope he doesn't get too negative. England were too defensive in the West Indies earlier in the year and we were only slightly better against Australia.

"Strauss needs to have confidence in his players to be aggressive. He can't be bold if the rest of the team doesn't play. I don't think he is absolutely confident that he can set them challenges," Botham said.

He was his forthright self when asked if England could become the best Test team in the world.

"Never mind about getting to No.1, we're No.5 at the moment. Let's move up a few places first. They are nowhere near being the best Test side in the world at present. In South Africa, if England have the right bowlers and they are all fit, and the batsmen turn up, and the top five and six all fire, then we have a chance. Our batsmen don't make enough runs," Botham said.