Almanac Cricket: T20

 

 

 

            Bertolt Brecht once said Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.  You’d possibly say the same about cricket. For a long time, it was seen as a staid game played by men residing within the auspices of the British Empire. The players wore their whites, it was oft considered a ‘gentleman’s game’ with an etiquette befitting a noble pastime, and games could often take many days to reach a conclusion. There were even what were called the ‘timeless tests’ played over many days. Over time it’s changed, a lot.

 

In 1963 we saw the first limited overs competition, the Gillette Cup played in England. Though there limited over matches prior this was the first actual tournament. On January 5, 1971, Australia played England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; this was in lieu of a washed-out test match. This was the first One Day International (ODI). Australia triumphed winning by 5 wickets. The match was of 40, 8 ball overs.

 

The next ODI was held, again between Australia and England at the MCG, on New Year’s Day 1975, between the Third, & Fourth, tests. This time England won, the margin being 3 wickets. A few months later the 1975 World Cup was held in England, and ODIs were on their way to being an established feature of international cricket.

 

The initial ODI World Cup held at Lords saw a thrilling final in which Clive Lloyd’s West Indies defeated Australia by 17 runs. A century by Clive Lloyd, with some magic in the field by Viv Richards who ran out three Australians, saw a match finish in pandemonium as darkness set in , getting the world of World Cups underway.  Australia would win their first ODI World Cup in Eden Gardens Calcutta, on November 8, 1987, beating England by seven runs.

 

In 1977 the World Series Cricket revolution arrived. The shorter form of the game became the preference for many of us, spectators, and administrators, included.  Now games were played under lights at night, something that was revolutionary in its impact. Coloured clothes, lots of nose, the focus was on the action rather than the outcome. For the next few decades ODI’s rode high on the cricketing landscape.

 

Just on twenty years ago we saw the introduction of a new format of the game. This was a change that saw what had once been a veritable test of endurance now becoming an entertaining contest where both sides were only required to face 20 overs.

 

The origins of T20 as we know it are from the English domestic competition. This was in response to the faltering of one its domestic limited over contests, the Benson and Hedges Cup. June 17, 2003, saw the opening clashes of the Twenty20 Cup, now called the Vitality Blast. The first Twenty20 match held at the spiritual home of cricket Lords, brought together Middlesex and Surrey with 27,509 people attending, the biggest crowd for any county clash held at Lords since 1953, other than domestic one day finals. Its first season saw the Warwickshire Bears defeat the Surrey Lions by 9 wickets in the first Twenty20 Cup final.

 

T 20 Cricket sits comfortably in the  world of the entertainment industry. To go to a cricket match where there are jumping castles, swimming pools, live music, fireworks is all part of the experience of T20 cricket. It brings in big money through its sponsorship rights, the variety of items for sale, with of course extensive media coverage cultivating a mass audience . The match result seems peripheral to the exploding miked up stumps, the sixes hit, the music blaring. The format spread globally, with many parts of the world  joining the action. One of the earliest nations to establish their own championship was Pakistan who got their own competition in 2004, other nations rapidly followed suit.

 

The powerhouse of 21^st century cricket India was initially reticent to participate in this mode of cricket as they felt it would impact on their lucrative limited overs tournaments. For the 2007 T20 World Cup players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman did not play.  But after winning the first T 20 World Cup Indian Cricket rapidly became enamoured with the excitement, and riches offered.

 

The first season of T20 in Australia saw a domestic T 20 competition in 2005-06. Who remembers that the first season saw the six state sides play off in a round robin competition? The opening match at the WACA saw the Western Warriors play the Victorian Bushranger in front of a sell out crowd of 20,00 the first sell out at the WACA in 25 years. That state-based format didn’t last long as the more commercially accepted franchises became the ‘norm’.

 

T20 was here, and it was spreading everywhere. Here are some important(interesting) steps along the way to the development of T20 on the international stage to where we are now with a World Cup held here in Australia.

 

The first T20 international on February 17, 2005, saw Australia play New Zealand in Auckland. Australia batting first knocked up 5-214 then bowled out New Zealand for 170.  Australia captain Ricky Ponting scored our first T20 half century finishing unbeaten on 98. Michael Kasprowicz took our first wicket bowling New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming for 18.  The match had a retro feel with players wearing clothes, sporting wigs, moustaches to have a 1980’s look.

 

Further matches were played that year with Australia losing to England in Southampton by 100 runs, then South Africa losing to New Zealand by 5 wickets in Johannesburg.  Our first match on home soil was at the Gabba on January 9, 2006. Australia winning by 34 runs. Players from both teams had their nicknames emblazoned on their tops.

 

T20 was underway, with the international teams now playing against each other. We saw the first T 20 century scored by West Indie’s Chris Gayle, this being 117 against South Africa in Johannesburg. Over his time playing T20 Gayle was bestowed the title ”King of T 20 cricket”. Across the various levels of T 20 Gayle hit 22 centuries the most of any player.

 

 How many of us recall Aaron Finch scoring Australia’s first T20 century? This was 156 at the Rose Bowl in England on August 29, 2013, with Finch hitting 14 sixes, and 11 fours along the way. Aaron Finch ‘s score of 172 at Harare on  July 3, 2018, in the clash with Zimbabwe is Australia’s highest individual T 20 score. The 14 sixes by Finch against England are the most by an Australian in this format.

 

By 2007 a T20 World Cup was underway. This event became a biannual feature. Over time the structure of the T20 World Cup has changed in terms of the number of teams, with of course the format of the final(s). Currently there are twelve nations competing here in Australia, with a group stage leading into the super 12 stage. The top eight teams from the previous World Cup get joined by the best two sides each from the pair of four-member groupings: A & B.

 

Australia has competed in all eight T20 World Cups, winning the most recent one in Dubai beating New Zealand by 8 wickets. Australia has also been a losing finalist once, losing to England by seven wickets at Bridgetown Barbados on May 16, 2010. Twice Australia has been semi-finalists losing to India in Durban during the inaugural World Cup on September 22, 2007. On October 5, 2012, Australia was beaten by the West Indies by 74 runs in a semi-final in Colombo of the 2012 World Cup.

 

Of the traditional international cricketing nations South Africa, like in the ODI format, have not made a final in the T20 World Cup. Nor have their women’s teams. There’s a pattern here.

 

Speaking of women’s involvement in the T20 format, Australia’s team has been pretty good. There have been seven women’s T20 World Cup finals, Australia triumphing in five of them. In the other two finals Australia have been runners up once, this being against the West Indies in Kolkata back in 2016.

 

Anyhow back to the present T20 World Cup, which is up and running, there’s been some exciting cricket. The group matches were particularly interesting: how often do we see teams like Namibia, or Eire on Australian soil, let alone beamed into our lounge rooms on prime-time TV? These matches were great viewing.

 

Reigning champions Australia started of this T2 World Cup being whipped by the Kiwi’s. A wise German gentleman once said history repeats itself twice firstly as a tragedy, then a farce. After we won our first ODI World Cup the next World Cup tournament was held down under, in Australia and Aotearoa. In the first match of that the Kiwi’s whipped us, as Australia failed to live up to the hype. Will our initial victories in both the T20, and ODI, Word Cups have the same follow up?

 

 I’m enjoying the T20 World Cup. Let’s enjoy watch some good cricket, acknowledge its role in the entertainment industry, with hopefully the best side winning the 2022 T20 World Cup.

 

Glen!

 

 

More from Glen can be read Here

 

 

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