The gods could not have made a more ironic choice than Geoffrey Boycott to open the batting in the first ever ODI.

In those tactically naive days, back in 1971, at Melbourne, the world's most defensive opener concentrated on seeing off the Australian new-ball attack to protect the middle-order.

He succeeded, to a certain extent, blunting the new cherry for all of 37 balls, but he only scored eight runs in the process. If England were to repeat a similar scoring rate for their whole innings in their first Twenty20 international, against Australia, at the Rose Bowl tonight, they would reach the mammoth score of 26.

At Melbourne, England did recover somewhat, to reach 190 all out from 39.4 eight-ball overs (just over 50 six-ball overs), though they lost the game. Ian Chappell was the most important figure for Australia in knocking off the runs, scoring 60 in 103 balls.

The overall scoring rates in that game and, generally, in the early days of ODIs, were sluggish by modern standards, roughly the equivalent of Test-match speeds today. Since Boycott saw off the new ball at Melbourne, ODI tactics have changed out of all recognition, introducing aggressive openers and reverse-sweeps.

And Twenty20 has taken these tactics a stage further, bringing in further batting inventions, such as the chips over the stumper which have purists wincing in displeasure. Even more exciting are the bowling innovations, such as the constant use of bouncers, yorkers and slower balls to surprise the batsmen and stop them getting in a groove. Such quick-witted unpredictability is refreshing in a period when Test-match bowling has become a tad monotonous, obsessed with targeting incessantly the "corridor of uncertainty".

Ironically, the clone-type Test bowling mentality is as much a product of one-day games as are five-day scoring rates. But in Twenty20, because there is pressure to score from every ball and deliveries in "the corridor" are too predictable, bowlers are forced to be innovative. It is a form that would have suited the imaginative brilliance of a batsman like Dennis Compton, or a thinking bowler like Fred Trueman, both possessed of classical techniques but unhindered by formulas about how things should be done and, thus, capable of wild improvisations.

We may expect similar surprises from several of the cricketers on display at the Rose Bowl, though, as they have played so little Twenty20 between them, we can only guess at how they might perform.

It is possible that Glenn McGrath's unerring accuracy may prove less effective than Brett Lee's explosive unpredictability. McGrath was expensive against New Zealand in Australia's first Twenty20 game, back in February, going for 48 in four overs, though Australia ended up winning by 41 runs.

The quick-scoring Australian batting line-up looks made for Twenty20. Ricky Ponting made 98* against New Zealand from 55 balls and he has the capacity to play aggressively without departing from an exceptionally sound technique. Matthew Hayden's 79 from 46 balls against the PCA Masters in the warm-up game for the match against England suggested he will adapt quickly to the new form. The phenomenal Adam Gilchrist barely needs to up his scoring rate from Test matches. And Australia can call on Brad Hodge, surpassed only by Darren Maddy in last season's Twenty20 cup in England.

England should not be too shabby either. Darren Gough has the nouse to mix it up with the ball, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have the power with the bat, and Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss are proven quick scorers with the ability to improvise. The more rigidly technical players like Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan might struggle to adapt to the short form, and there is a case for including Twenty20 specialists, like Darren Maddy, its finest English exponent. He made 70 in 59 balls for the PCA Masters against Australia and an amazing 356 runs last year for Twenty20 champions Leicestershire.

Then again, something about Australia seems to get Vaughan's juices going. Witness his three Ashes tons and, equally pertinently, despite a poor ODI record, his 86 in England's defeat of the world champions at Birmingham last year. Australia will not want a repeat of that loss at the start of an Ashes tour. They will be desperate to win the game and inflict a few early wounds on England. But Vaughan, for one, will be thinking along similar lines.

Whatever happens, the first Twenty20 game between these oldest rivals is likely to prove as historic as their first ODI at Melbourne, but, unlike that 1971 game, it is likely to begin with more of a bang than a whimper.

England: (from) MP Vaughan (capt), ME Trescothick, GO Jones, VS Solanki, AJ Strauss, KP Pietersen, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, GJ Batty, Kabir Ali, D Gough, SJ Harmison, SP Jones, J Lewis.

Australia: (from) RT Ponting (capt), AC Gilchrist, ML Hayden, MEK Hussey, DR Martyn, A Symonds, GB Hogg, SM Katich, MJ Clarke, SR Watson, JN Gillespie, BJ Haddin, MS Kasprowicz, B Lee, GD McGrath.

10 Jun, 2005