Sports
T-20 becoming most popular brand of cricket
by Rex Clementine
Test cricket being the highest form of the game and a real test of character are all true no doubt but T-20 cricket has become the most popular format of the game for a variety of reasons. There’s more money being invested by sponsors for T-20 cricket as that’s where you see the younger generation getting involved. In a fast paced world, after five days of Test cricket, younger generations find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that games can still end in no results. They are more comfortable with the fact that three hours of T-20 entertainment gives them a result.
The eighth edition of the event is taking place in Australia for the first time and the Aussies are known to be fabulous hosts and put up grand shows. Their government is giving the fullest backing with visa fees and biometrics exempted for players, officials and even journalists. With some entertaining finishes and new heroes, this tournament is expected to take the popularity of T-20 cricket further.
There’s an increasing trend for teams to engage in more T-20 cricket than Test matches. For example, Pakistan and England recently played seven T-20 Internationals but there’s only room for three Tests. Australia and Sri Lanka have ended up playing eight T-20s this year alone but their Test series won’t stretch beyond two games.
It is true that the money is in T-20 cricket, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of Tests. In reality, the tendency to play fewer Tests has become the norm as most boards end up incurring huge costs playing Tests and they make little money.
Countries like Sri Lanka need to be aware of the dangers of playing fewer Test matches. England, Australia and even India will not cut down on the number of Tests they play a year as they can sustain it even when they don’t make profits. Sri Lanka’s red ball players were involved in a Test series in July this year and need to wait till march next year for their next series.
It has only taken two decades for T-20 cricket to expand beyond imagination. The financial riches T-20 cricket has brought in is such that Sri Lankan cricketers now can afford to buy acres of prime land. No not just around Colombo, but even in places like Melbourne and Manchester. Yes, that’s correct, acres of prime land. T-20 cricket was first introduced in England in 2003. Lord Ian MacLaurin, the boss of UK’s most successful supermarket chain Tesco was the head of England and Wales Cricket Board and he brought in much needed change for the game.
ECB Marketing Executive Stuart Robertson had been told to look into ways that would make cricket appealing to younger fans in Britain again. It had been observed that there was this notion that cricket was a sport for the wealthy. The sport was being played while most men and women in UK were at work.
Robertson noted that even in limited overs cricket, it took seven hours for a game to end. Furthermore, 50 overs cricket at that point was losing interest. The first 15 overs with field restrictions were on was exciting and then the last five with batters cashing in towards the end of the innings. Between overs 16 and 44 was considered as a boring phase of the game. So he decided to take off the period between overs 16 to 44 and condense it to a 20 over game hoping the excitement was there.Activities where children can come over and enjoy the game were introduced too like bouncy castles and swimming pools and the idea was immensely popular in England.
India brought into the argument reluctantly. Jagmohan Dalmiya, cricket’s most powerful man at that point walked into the Durban press box during the 2003 50 over World Cup semi-final and the British media told him about the success of T-20 cricket in UK and asked whether international cricket could accommodate another format. Dalmiya said that in his part of the world the game was thriving. His famous quote was, ‘when there’s a Test match in Calcutta, there are 100,000 people inside the ground and 100,000 people outside the ground.’
But all that changed four years later when India won the first T-20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. BCCI hadn’t taken the tournament seriously and sent a second string team. But that team had a smart leader, a certain M.S. Dhoni. Once India won the title beating arch-rivals Pakistan, the interest for the new format went through the roof.
Cricket landscape was also changing in India at that point and more dynamic and young businessmen like Lalit Modi and N. Srinivasan were taking charge. They saw the huge potential a domestic T-20 tournament would have and the IPL was launched. Rest of the world followed suit with their own lucrative T-20 league and the rest as they say is history.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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