ALLEN STANFORD’S assertion that he finds Test matches boring raises the question of whether he has watched any. Maybe he is referring to the tedious run-fests that Tests in his adopted home, Antigua, have become. Had he experienced the drama of a Test in Barbados or Jamaica, he surely would not consider it boring.

The 2005 Ashes would never have grown into such a shared national experience if it had been a series of Twenty20 matches. The drama built with each game, with every twist and turn over 22 days of cricket spread across eight weeks. Boring? Ask the thousands locked out of Old Trafford on the final day or the millions of cricket virgins who got hooked via television.

Test cricket is an acquired taste, but to call it boring is to miss its uniqueness. Twenty20 provides an instant spectacle, but it lacks the subtlety and variety of the five-day game. There is little time for a team batting second to recover from a bad start. On the other hand, England’s Lazarus-like recovery in the second Test against New Zealand last month was as thrilling as it was unexpected. With apologies to an old beer commercial: only Test cricket can do this. And six-hits in Twenty20 are taken as a given; in Tests they still carry novelty value and a brutal assault by a Pietersen or McCullum is afforded the status it deserves.

But just as the 50-over game has influenced Test cricket, rather than cannibalised it, so the tactical evolution of Twenty20, now in its sixth season in England, will leave its mark on Tests. Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman, admitted his spell with Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) had influenced his batting in the Test series against England - for good and ill.

In the first Test, Taylor failed to get past 20. “I was a little nervous when I walked out to bat,” he said. “Test cricket has its own special tempo and I was too rushed. I’ll learn from that.” In the second Test he made a spectacular unbeaten 154 that put his side in what ought to have been a winning position. “The IPL probably helped me with those last 20 or 30 runs,” he said with a smile, referring to the remarkable slog-sweeps for six off Ryan Sidebottom.

The slog-sweep is not a Twenty20 invention, more of a 50-over development that found its way into the Test game, but it shows how the limited-over format can influence the longer game. Strong, tall players are adept at depositing decent balls from spinners into the crowd. In 2005 Kevin Pietersen used that approach to counter Shane Warne. Using his long reach, he was able to get to the ball just as it bounced, so nullifying the spin. In 2006 against Muttiah Muralitharan, Pietersen again tore apart the coaching manual when he played a left-handed sweep for six.

But Twenty20 can claim two batting innovations. Firstly, the scoop shot, in which the batsman reaches forward as if to sweep and flicks the ball over his shoulder to the fine-leg boundary. Middlesex’s Eoin Morgan did this perfectly last week at Lord’s against Essex to a ball well outside off stump; in a first-class match he would have left it alone or tried to cover-drive. On the down side, Misbah-ul-Haq, of Pakistan, tried it in the last over of the World Twenty20 final against India in September and hit it straight to short fine-leg to seal India’s victory.

The other development is the baseball-style stance. A batsman takes his front leg away from the pitch of the ball (rather than going towards it, as convention dictates) to increase the areas in which he can score, confusing the fielding side in the process. Chris Adams, the Sussex captain, showcased this to great effect in his 57 against Kent on Twenty20’s opening day.

It is surely only a matter of time before these innovations seep into Tests. They will make the five-day game even more fascinating - or less boring, as Sir Allen might view it.

John Stern is editor of The Wisden Cricketer