T20 Cricket: some thoughts.

I sat up and watched the first 10 overs of the game last night…

I wanted to be convinced, after all it IS supposed to be the future of cricket; but even before a ball was bowled I was disturbed by what I was seeing.

When ODI cricket was first played it was described as a ‘circus’. Well 2020 cricket isn’t a circus; it’s a side-show. It’s almost as if the cricket itself is an irrelevance to the ‘event’. Even before the match had started the commentators where continually telling us how ‘brilliant’ and ‘exciting’ it all was, trying to convince us.

And then the game started.

It’s like they have taken the game of cricket and taken away the finesse, the elegance, the grace, the poise, and replaced it with dancing girls and music.

The actual skills of the game seem to have become an irrelevance; indeed the skills of bowling have been declared a hindrance and removed from the game.

It’s cricket for people who like ‘reality TV’, in that it is contrived and lacking any subtlety…it’s cricket designed by people who don’t like cricket for people who don’t follow cricket and I wonder why they bothered.

Frankly I can’t see it lasting, certainly not at the international level.

Aye. Especially the bowling bit.

must admit to surprise at the idea of vor having thoughts...

T20 will be a resounding success as a marketer's delight...its relationship with the game of cricket will remain problemmatic with boomers and x gens but i expect it to take off

It is the next big thing. My first game maybe, but I saw the
excitement and think this is what the kids who don't know much about cricket will go for.

Speaking for myself, but this much I can say straight off: I'd still rather see Test cricket, but fifty over games could just end up being a drag for me.

Maybe zimmy really is the Voice of Reason . . . . ?

Well dur...

Phurt. Phurt on toast.

If the bowler is good enough, he wont go for runs. It's that 'kin simple. As for the dancing pie, ignore it. It's fun, as 50-over stuff should be, but it isn't. It's a puke-ridden, cynical, formulaic load of snoresville. Were it not for WI's utter, utter, incredibly sh!tehouse, unprofessional bowling last night, the game would've already rivalled most of the WC games for closeness.

T20 is designed to attract people who don't have the attention span to stick with 50 over games, let alone test matches. T20 is to cricket what drag racing is to motor racing, just a short higher-adrenaline version of the same game. Of course die hard motor racing fans prefer the Le Mans 24 hours to drag racing.

Aye... Tests are the cricket to watch. But 50 overs as I've mentioned seems to me to be a little moribund.

Batfink Begins wrote:\Were it not for WI's utter, utter, incredibly sh!tehouse, unprofessional bowling last night, the game would've already rivalled most of the WC games for closeness.

Ah, the old 'if the game had been closer the game would have been closer' argument. Well put.

I'd suggest that there will be no more 'close' games in this Championship than in the last World Cup.

Invader Zim wrote:Ah, the old 'if the game had been closer the game would have been closer' argument. Well put.

I'd suggest that there will be no more 'close' games in this Championship than in the last World Cup.

Balls mate, utter Timmy-style balls. WI bowled 24 extras, that's damn exceptional in terms of sh!tness. That's 4 extra overs for SA to knock the runs off plus 23 runs and 1 run with a free hit. The format dictates that there'll be more close games, s'almost what it's all about.

"The format dictates that there'll be more close games, s'almost what it's all about."

Unless a team bowls shite or chokes when batting .....

Okay, lets see at the end of this rubbish world cup what the 'close game' count is.

embee wrote:"The format dictates that there'll be more close games, s'almost what it's all about."

Unless a team bowls shite or chokes when batting .....

Yeah. Which can happen in any form of the game.

It was a close game. With 6 overs left it was still in the balance, and a single dropped catch could have changed the result. The good thing about 20/20 is the momentum can change very quickly and you get a lot higher proportion of close finishes.

Although the minnows will always manage to stuff that up sometimes.

Invader Zim wrote:Okay, lets see at the end of this rubbish world cup what the 'close game' count is.

Yes, lets you bitter luddite of a woman.

The game will always still be in the balance with 40 overs to go .....Cant say that about JAMODIs....

Of course if we played Ball/Ball ....How exciting would that be .....

Not much point continuing. A few girls are obviously going to cry still and whinge like no tomorrow saying "**sniff** it'll ruin the game". Fact is, it's taken lightly enough, it's good fun, will be better than that non-event of a WC and has FA to do with Tests. Just how it's supposed to be.

For the record I make it 4 close games in the 51 (7.8%) at the last World Cup.




5th Match, Group D: Ireland v Zimbabwe at Kingston - Mar
15, 2007

Match tied. Ireland 221/9 (50 ov); Zimbabwe 221 (50 ov)


26th Match, Super Eights: South Africa v Sri Lanka at
Providence - Mar 28, 2007

South Africa won by 1 wicket (with 10 balls remaining). Sri Lanka 209 (49.3
ov); South Africa 212/9 (48.2 ov)


33rd Match, Super Eights: England v Sri Lanka at North
Sound - Apr 4, 2007

Sri Lanka won by 2 runs. Sri Lanka 235 (50 ov); England 233/8 (50 ov)


48th Match, Super Eights: West Indies v England at
Bridgetown - Apr 21, 2007

England won by 1 wicket (with 1 ball remaining). West Indies 300 (49.5 ov);
England 301/9 (49.5 ov)

Batfink Begins wrote:

Invader Zim wrote:Okay, lets see at the end of this rubbish world cup what the 'close game' count is.

Yes, lets you bitter luddite of a woman.

So angry.

The experience in the last domestic Aust 2020 season was that there were very few close games. Frankly, if side 1 puts on a good total and side 2 loses a couple of wickets early, then the last 20 overs are as one sided and pointless as many JAMODIs are seen to be.

I have been to 3 2020 games in my life and all were practically over 3 overs into the second innings.

I think we should draw lessons from basketball when it comes to assessing how "good" 2020 is - any sport that needs rock music, dancing girls and similar gimmicks to keep the crowd interested is fundamentally crap.

Invader Zim wrote:
So angry.

Seems like you're so angry. Timmy doesn't deem this format 'dead great' so Timmy's going to sook about it to eternity.

20/20 is like fast food ... smells appetising, tastes great (at the time), looks cool (for the acne riddled yobs) has all the razz-a-ma-tazz of ear splitting music and dance ... but later causes acute indigestion and emptiness after being consumed.

It's a nice lightweight distraction and a marketing orgasm ... that's all it will ever be.

I'm expressing an opinion. And doing it without name-calling. I’ll let others judge who the angry one is.

Danny's not angry, just that batteries have run down in his anal probe and he needs to get his jollies poking you . . .