FAST & FURIOUS T20 CRICKET WORLD CUP COMES TO AUSTRALIA

By Raj Natarajan

When Australian television tycoon Kerry packer introduced 50 overs limited cricket in 1971 the game was changed forever and it came to be known as One-Day cricket. This is the cricket format which was adopted by International Cricket Council (ICC) to play the first cricket World Cup in 1975 in England. The ICC Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket and was also known as Prudential World Cup. Until ODI started in 1971, the only form of cricket that was played was Test Cricket which has been typically, a five day affair. Although the early matches were recognised retrospectively, Test cricket began in 1877 when W G Grace was already 28 and he made his debut in 1880, scoring England’s first-ever Test century, against Australia. Therefore it took almost 100 years for the game of Cricket to reinvent itself in the form of limited overs cricket (ODI) in 1971.

The ODI format has undergone further minor changes like the coloured clothing, power play, field restrictions during initial overs and use of two balls, one for each side of the wicket etc. In order to attract more crowds to the ground day/night ODI matches were started and On 27 November 1977 the very first day/night match was played at Adelaide between WSC Australia and the WSC West Indies, a match in which the WSC West Indies won batting under the floodlights. Consequently the traditional red ball slowly gave way to white balls which were first introduced in World Series Cricket (WSC), the breakaway league started by Kerry Packer in 1977 in Australia.

Twenty20 cricket, or (Twenty-20), and often abbreviated to T20, is the shortest form of cricket and at the professional level, it was originally introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition in England and Wales. In a Twenty20 game the two teams have a single innings each, which is restricted to a maximum of 20 overs. Together with first-class and List A cricket, Twenty20 is one of the three current forms of cricket recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as being at the highest international or domestic level.

The inaugural ICC World Twenty20 was played in South Africa in 2007 with India winning by five runs against Pakistan in the final. Pakistan won the second tournament in 2009, and England won the title in the West Indies in 2010. West Indies won in 2012, with Sri Lanka winning the 2014 tournament. West Indies are the reigning champions, winning the 2016 competition, and in doing so, became the first nation to win the tournament twice.

Many purists of the game don’t approve of either the 50 overs ODI format or the T20 format of cricket because, they argue, it is killing the traditional cricketing skills which was the hallmark of Test Cricket. Moreover good fortune plays a very important role in the outcome of the match.

T20 World cup in 2020 in Australia has a rhyme to it and Australian Cricket fans will be treated to this fast and furious form of cricket by some of the best talents around the cricketing world. Two T20 World Cups will be played exclusively in Australia in 2020, starting with the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, comprising 10 teams playing 23 matches from 21 February to 8 March 2020, followed by the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, involving 16 teams playing 45 matches from 18 October to 15 November 2020.

8 host cities and 13 venues throughout Australia will host matches, with both competitions attracting not only Australian fans but thousands of cricket lovers and fans from across the World.

Teams taking Part in ICC T20 World cup in Australia are as follows:

Women’s Teams (in alphabetical order):

Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies

Men’s Teams (in alphabetical order):

Afghanistan; Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe + Qualifiers

I had the opportunity to interview the CEO of T20 World Cup Mr. Nick Hockley a few months back and asked him about the preparations going on in various host cities of Australia and following are some of the excerpts of that interview:

Raj: T20 World cup is less than one year away and how are the preparations going?

Nick: We have both the Women’s and Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup being played here in Australia and we are very lucky because we have fantastic venues in Australia and also we have seen with BBL that people love T20 Cricket. We want to make sure that all the communities are part of this T20 World Cup. The first match will be played here in the Sydney Show ground at Sydney Olympic Park between Indian Women and Australian Women which promises to be a perfect beginning to the T20 World Cup.

Raj: This fast and furious form of cricket seems to have brought commercial success to the game which was not seen before, for example BBL, as you mentioned before, attracts huge crowds and so also IPL in India. Do you think that T20 World Cup will also be a highly commercially successful competition?

Nick: Yes T20 Cricket appeals to all cricket fans, young and old and it is a family sport because it is a short duration game and also full of entertainment which can be enjoyed by everyone. The on-field entrainment also ensures kids are engaged while watching their favourite cricketing heroes score runs or take wickets or hold some unbelievable catches. T20 is a good blend of sports and entertainment and ICC is trying to grow cricket, through this format, in countries which have not been traditionally cricket playing countries. After the introduction of T20 cricket many countries around the World are keen to take up cricket and now theoretically nearly 70 countries can take part in T20 World Cup. Also T20 Cricket can deliver lots of upsets and hence we can look forward to some of the emerging nations take on more established nations like Australia, India or England and register some upset wins which may be good for the growth of cricket.

Raj: So whoever can swing the bat can take part in T20 Cricket?

Nick: Absolutely and that is the reason why it is easy to introduce cricket to countries where cricket is not a traditional form of sport. This is the beauty of T20 cricket which can be the catalyst for future growth of cricket and survive as a commercially successful sport which is necessary for any sport to grow.

Raj: Are the tickets on sale and how can one get hold of the tickets?

Nick: Tickets have gone on sale first for the women’s matches and the tickets are very reasonably priced, $20 for adults and $5 for children for all the games, including the semi-finals which are played in Sydney and Adelaide with the finals being be played at MCG in Melbourne. The best way to get the tickets is to get on the ICC website for T20 World cup which is: www.t20worldcup.com

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