A thrilling game of cricket took place at Lord's on Sunday evening. It was England v India in the World Twenty20 - the hosts against the holders, the nation that nurtured the game against its current superpower. Both sides were fervently supported, with many families enjoying the sunshine (unlike at the Oval last night) and the pulsating atmosphere.

The match itself lived up to the buzz by going to the wire. Three hundred runs, which would take a whole day in Test cricket, were made in three hours. And the underdogs, England, sneaked a hard-earned win.

The game had everything - except a full house. The stands were packed, but on the white benches of the world-famous pavilion there were wide empty spaces. Usually on big-match days, MCC members have to get in early and bag a seat with a newspaper. On Sunday the newspaper could have had a seat of its own.

MCC has 18,000 full members, all supposedly united by a love of cricket. Yet only a few hundred bothered to attend the biggest match so far in a vibrant tournament. What was going on? They can't all have been at evensong.

Kevin Pietersen carried England's batting despite also carrying an Achilles tendon injury. And the empty seats looked very much like English cricket's longstanding Achilles' heel: snobbery. Twenty20 is seen as an upstart. Not real cricket, the old guard say - it's just hit and giggle.

This is nonsense. In its six-year life, Twenty20 has proved highly sophisticated. It's cat and mouse, not hit and giggle. The bowlers play tricks on the batsmen, changing their pace, varying their length sharply because they can't vary their line. The batsmen respond by moving around the crease, giving bowlers a view of all three stumps, switching hands and devising new strokes like the Dilscoop, perfected by Tillekeratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka, who flips the ball over his shoulder like a pancake.

Alongside all this creativity, the eternal verities still apply. Spinners, who had been expected to be cannon fodder, are often influential. Fielding and running between the wickets, the traditional barometers of team spirit, are more vital than ever. England's win on Sunday was secured by hostile bowling, agile fielding and classical wicketkeeping - James Foster whipped out India's dangerman, Yuvraj Singh, with a stumping that showed that quicksilver is not just a surf brand.

All cricket's strengths were on show. And it left the missing men in egg-and-bacon ties with egg all over their faces.

Tim de Lisle is editor of Intelligent Life magazine and a former editor of Wisden

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