Should Paul Collingwood be rushed into WA's one-day team on Saturday it will be a defining moment for the abridged format on this side of the wide brown land.
There is no doubt about the popularity of the Twenty20 game. Yet the new version has a gun-for-hire attitude about it. Composite teams have been accepted almost since the first match. Such selections have suited the entertainment-at-all-costs attitude of 20-over cricket.
But to use an official one-day match involving a State side as little more than an opportunity for an import to get match practice for a cricket carnival degrades the 50-over game almost to the point of irrelevancy.
The Ryobi Cup is in danger of becoming simply a warm-up before the "speed cricket" starts.
WA might be better off not playing in the series after struggling in the first half of the season. The Warriors are without a point from five matches.
