Seven matches of the Champions League T20 have gone by so far and only one of them has been a close contest. Are the champions just not as well matched as Lalit Modi hoped they would be? Or is it just a format the players are not used to and it's taking some time for them to get their heads around the whole concept?

The idea of a Champions League of domestic cricket teams is an entirely novel one. Not only will create an incentive for franchise cricket teams, and will probably create a greater sense of competition in the local leagues, but it will also give domestic players exposure to international conditions and teams. It's not a totally new idea either, with cricket boards in India, South Africa and Australia talking about setting something of this nature up for a few years. It probably just needed someone with the money and drive of Modi to actually turn the notion into a reality.

Few will deny that the concept is noble, but the execution hasn't quite lived up to its promise, starting with the poor performance of the IPL teams. There was much speculation ahead of the League that they would struggle because they wouldn?t have seen each other since the South African sojourn which ended in May.

All three IPL teams lost their opening matches, and two of them in humiliating fashion. The Royal Challengers Bangalore went down to the Cape Cobras by five wickets, despite a raucous home ground booing the South Africans at every occasion. The Delhi Daredevils put on a meek 98 for eight in their match against the Victoria Bushrangers and lost by seven wickets. It was only the IPL champions, the Deccan Chargers, who had a competitive contest, but eventually also ended up on the losing side, to the Somerset Sabres.

By Saturday, when all the IPL teams had made one appearance and lost, all those who so resented Modi's invention where beaming. Here was proof that the IPL was just a flashy, gimmicky waste of time, until the Daredevils had their second bite at the cherry. They demolished the Sri Lankan champions Wayamba by 50 runs, no mean feat, considering that the Lankan side has players like Ajantha Mendis and Mahela Jayawardene in their arsenal. Perhaps the IPL teams did need a match to reacquaint themselves, remember who bats where in the order and who speaks English or not. We?ll know for sure after the Challengers and the Chargers have their next match.

For South Africans, the League has already provided a reason to celebrate, in the form of the Cape Cobras. Despite losing Graeme Smith through injury, they have slithered their way into the Super 8 stage after two convincing wins. Even more heartening though has been the success JP Duminy and Andrew Puttick have had with the bat. No such luck for the Eagles, who were humiliated by New South Wales, but are not out of the competition yet.

The League has also given us an opportunity to see some of our own who are now representing overseas teams, like Alfonso Thomas, Zander de Bruyn and Charl Willoughby. All of them were part of the Somerset side that beat by Chargers off the last ball of their match. Thomas was the man wielding the bat and hit the wining run in the only nail biter of the tournament so far. More of those are needed if we are to remember anything about this league.