Mustard says the current T20 schedule is too much for players and fans

Durham captain Phil Mustard believes the public's appetite for Twenty20 cricket has been stretched by the increased number of games this season.

The county will have played 16 games, including 12 in the space of only 22 days, by the end of the group phase, a schedule Mustard believes is too much.

"People are getting bored of it, look at the crowd on Wednesday, only 2,000," Mustard told BBC Newcastle.

"Maybe if we'd only had eight games, then we might have got a full house."

Mustard added: "Personally I think it's too much going on, a month of it is hard work.

"You play on a Monday, Tuesday have a day off and then travel on a Wednesday and play on a Wednesday, it's too much."

Durham invested in two impressive international short-form specialists in New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor and South Africa all-rounder Albie Morkel, but Geoff Cook's side has been let down by disappointing form and qualification for the knock-out phase looks unlikely.

Mustard admitted Durham had been punished for a poor start in this season's competition.

"We've knackered up early in the tournament, it's not a case of we've come down to the last few games and need to win one to qualify," he continued.

"It's all pot luck at this stage of the tournament, if we want to qualify we've got to win two games.

"It's a shame because we've just started to play well again, but hopefully we can carry this performance into the Championship because that's our big aim at the moment."

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