Run that by me again

The Aussies are getting serious about Twenty20 cricket, so be scared, very scared. But their captain is saying strange things (and I must confess, these rank as some of the strangest, most peculiar words I've heard come out of an Australian cricketer, right up there with Bill Woodfull asking - right before the 1934 Ashes - English folks to buy more Australian-made products). Here is what the Punter had to say about Twenty20 becoming "official":

One of the best things about the game was it was fun and you play your best cricket when you are getting out there and having fun...Now we're playing a World Cup the players will be worried about stats and that might lose a bit of the beauty about the game.

So, let me get this right: festival cricket, benefit matches and the like produce the best cricket from the Australian team? Test matches don't? One-day internationals don't? So, all this time, when we thought the Australians were taking the game to new levels during the 2006 Ashes, we were only being treated to a sub-par, less beautiful version of the game? I thought the reason Ponting didn't like Twenty20 initially was because it wasn't serious enough (which makes his talking about the "beauty of the game" a bit rich). Anyway, no point trying to make sense of this. Its not like I'm going to be paying any attention to Twenty20 anyway.