SO SIR ALLEN STANFORD thinks cricket is destined once again to be an Olympic sport for the first time in more than 100 years.

 

Given the amount of money the Antigua-based businessman is throwing at the sport’s short Twenty20 format, his enthusiasm is hardly surprising.

 

But does cricket really stand a chance of making the Olympic line-up for the first time since the second modern Olympics in Paris in 1900?

 

Well, the sport has just entered the Olympic family, with the International Cricket Council (ICC), its governing body, becoming for the first time an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-recognised federation in December 2007.

 

Twenty20 has imbued it, arguably for the first time, with a format that can be accommodated comfortably into the Olympic Games’ 16-17-day timespan.

 

And, if the ICC were to decide to mount a campaign, then “Twenty20 in 2020” – the earliest a return to the Games could feasibly be hoped for – would certainly make a catchy slogan.

 

Lord’s, the sport’s most prestigious venue, is even poised, in 2012, to become an Olympic venue – but, of course, this is for the Olympic archery competition.

 

Limited international appeal

 

For all this though – and I speak as a certified cricket nut – you can’t help but feel that the sport’s very limited international range, at least at elite level, provides a pretty strong counterargument.

 

Yes I know Wisden’s admirable “Round the World” feature is full of tales every year of cricket being played in unlikely locations from Norway to North Korea.

 

But, let’s face it, the leading countries are all former outposts of the British Empire.

 

And, while surprise results are more likely in short-format cricket than in five-day Test matches, their superiority is such that they will remain top of the tree for the foreseeable future.

 

(What incidentally would happen to the West Indies in an Olympic cricket competition?)

 

Frankly too, for all the hype, I am not utterly convinced about Twenty20’s staying power.

 

The concept, after all, is only five years old – at least insofar as its application to professional cricket is concerned.

 

It might be worth waiting a tad longer to assess whether the upsurge in interest it has undoubtedly stimulated is enduring and whether those investing significant sums in short-form cricket see a worthwhile return on their money.

 

In the meantime, there seems a stronger case for Twenty20’s inclusion in the Commonwealth Games.

 

And cricket is, I gather, in the programme of sports for the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in 2010.

 

TV opportunity

 

And yet, the sport of W.G.Grace does have one shot in its locker that would, I suspect, cut considerable ice with members of the IOC.

 

This shot can be summed up in one word.

 

That word is India.

 

The world’s second most populous nation is cricket-mad, but it is certainly not Olympics-mad.

 

As Kevin Alavy, head of analytics at Futures Sport Entertainment, a sports consultancy, explained to me, if you draw up a list of all countries in the Asia-Pacific region in which the presence of advanced “people-meter” technology makes electronic measurement of television viewing figures possible, India has the lowest ratings of all for the Olympic Games.

 

This is not altogether surprising: the country has had little to cheer at the Games since its once invincible field hockey team last carried off the gold in Moscow in 1980.

 

But it must give the Olympic Movement food for thought – particularly as average Olympic viewing figures in the Asia-Pacific region have tended historically to be lower than those for the Americas and Europe.

 

If cricket, in other words, can persuade the IOC that it holds the key to much-improved viewing figures in one of the world’s biggest countries, it might yet surprise us by leapfrogging rival sports who are already vying for a slot in the Olympic programme.

 

Its case could be strengthened further if Delhi, venue for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, emerges as a credible candidate for the 2020 Olympics.

 

Sir Allen may yet be proved right. 

 

David Owen is a specialist sports journalist who worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing.