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« Previous EntriesCity, county, region
By Will Tuesday, last week, 7 Comments »
So Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, doesn’t believe a city-based franchise system would be workable in England’s attempt to challenge the Indian Premier League. In fact, Clarke said that “franchise sport has simply never worked in the UK”, which comes hot on the heels of county chief executives voicing their own concerns over the latest Twenty20 developments.
Clarke was speaking at the ECB’s AGM, but some of what he says concerns me. He was full of praise for India’s tournament, but insisted “much of the look and feel of the tournament was taken from the ECB template”. Valid sentiments, but it only makes the ECB look even more daft, short-sighted and bitter that they didn’t think of it first. There is still no clear idea of what the English Premier League will amount to, and the relevant parties - ECB, Professional Cricketers’ Association and the counties themselves - all appear to be at loggerheads with one another. Meanwhile, Allen Stanford is waiting in the wings, licking his lips at what he believes could be a huge earner. But how? And when?
We can forget 18 counties being involved. That much we know. And I’m not in favour of city-based franchises either as this will inevitably lead to some cities and towns being left out, or merged with a neighbour. For example, thinking purely geographically, Gloucestershire and Glamorgan would presumably be combined…but as what? Bristol or Cardiff? Exclude one and you’re effectively ruling out 50% of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Regionalisation seems a fair and simple solution:
North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham
London Surrey, Middlesex, Essex
South Hampshire, Kent, Sussex
Wales and West Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Somerset
West Midlands Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northants
East Midlands Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire
Fascinating to think of the teams these would put on the park, too, and who would captain them. Your thoughts?
7 Comments »McCullum raises bar
By Will 1 month ago, 27 Comments »
“McCullum’s going spastic,” one of my colleagues said over messenger while I watched one, lone, bearded spectator trudge around the Arctic Bowl in Southampton in the mizzle. I didn’t see much of Brendon McCullum’s explosive 158, but the facts and stats behind such innings illuminate it perfectly adequately.
Let’s start with the facts. He hit 10 fours and 13 sixes, one of them an outrageous paddle over his left shoulder off a disbelieving Zaheer Khan, and ended up scoring more runs than anyone has ever done in the brief history Twenty20 cricket. The previous record-holder - Cameron White, who hit 141 not out for Somerset against Worcestershire two years ago but contributed just six to the Bangalore’s pitiful total - spent most of the innings watching helplessly as one ball after another disappeared into the night sky. The pre-match fireworks had nothing on this.
McCullum’s penchant for the spectacular is not new. Only last month he creamed 170 off 108 balls to help Otago make mincemeat of Auckland in the
final of New Zealand’s State Shield, but on that occasion hardly anyone bothered to turn up to watch. Now, he did the business in front of well over 40,000 fans, most of them barracking at the start for their local side but many giving McCullum the ovation he deserved as he took the Bangalore bowlers to pieces. Fair enough: it was a knock that transcended partiality.
What cricket is this? People have termed Twenty20 the sport’s fast-food, which correctly implies it’s cheap, nasty and fills you with guilt. But that doesn’t convey just how fleeting it really is. It’s amphetamined cricket. Ravers’ cricket. Cricket for a trance nation. Dumbed down. Speeded up. Some brilliant shots, some awful slogs, much shorter boundaries. Cheerleaders. Too much colour. Where is this all heading?
27 Comments »Bradman and Hammond in Twenty20s
By Will 2 months ago, 17 Comments »
Nick Hoult has drawn up a list of his dream Twenty20 side at his enjoyable Telegraph blog:
1. Gordon Greenidge - Destructive and intimidating opener who would set the tone for the innings.
2. Saeed Anwar - Clever placement and electrifying stroke play would combine to make a brutal opening partnership with Greenidge.
3. Donald Bradman - Simply can’t ignore the greatest player of all time.
4. Viv Richards - Awesome power at the crease and useful bowling.
5. Wally Hammond - Wally loved to score quickly and his seam up would be invaluable. Also a great team man.
6. Garry Sobers - The game’s greatest allrounder. His stroke play would make him useful in the middle overs while his mixture of seam and spin could adapt to any situation.
7. Alec Stewart - Only Gilchrist has bettered him as a wicketkeeper/batsman.
8. Malcolm Marshall - Swing bowling and a decent leg-cutter would be perfect for Twenty20 cricket, as would his lower order hitting.
9. Wasim Akram - One of the great one-day bowlers whose lightening fast action concealed a clever change of pace.
10. Derek Underwood - Slow bowlers are key in Twenty20. Deadly’s intelligent left arm spin/medium pace would make him a captain’s dream.
11. Abdul Qadir - A gamble as he could be hit out of the attack, but his ability to produce the unpredictable could change a match.
Coach: Douglas Jardine - A man strong enough to handle a dressing room full of greats as well as get up the noses of the opposition and media.
I like the Anwar/Greenidge opening partnership - and just look at that bowling attack! Deadly Derek and Qadir to mop up after Marshall and Akram’s explosive opening couple of overs. I’d have Gilchrist instead of the Gaffer though, as much as it pains me…
17 Comments »Stanford 20/20 final, Antigua
By Will 3 months ago, 5 Comments »
I’m not around much for the next week but, quite by chance, I have a whole evening to myself to watch the final of the Stanford 20/20 between Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. T&T have won the toss and elected to field - rather boldly, they’ve decided they can chase down whatever Jamaica set them. Under lights. In a final.
Look out for William Perkins. He is a bit special, by all accounts.
Tune your tellyboxes to Sky 401, read the comms on Cricinfo and generally have a spiffing time of it. Incidentally, Chris Gayle is developing a magnificent afro. What with the mullets some of the England squad are sporting, big hair is back.
5 Comments »South Africa slump to 18 for 6
By Will last year, mid-December, 1 Comment »
I’d assumed South Africa’s Twenty20 against West Indies was going to be rained off, but they’ve mopped things up and the home side are tottering, like a drunken pensioner, on 18 for 6. Note: that’s South Africa, not West Indies. What a laugh Twenty20 is. Can West Indies f*** it up from here? Here’s the scorecard for those with nerves of steel.
The lowest ever score in a Twenty20 is Titans’ 47 against the Eagles in 2004. Kenya hold the embarrassment of the most meagre in internationals with 73…which looks a horribly long way off for South Africa.
1 Comment »‘Jam this big bastard’
By Will last year, mid-December, 3 Comments »
Great piece from Peter English on Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist’s use of the mic:
3 Comments »The same players who were frightened by the thought of allowing some of their language to be broadcast in Tests, particularly in South Africa and Bangladesh, where the effects microphones are usually more sensitive to fielding chatter, allowed an insight into their real lives. To see the men, who commentated a couple of overs without much intervention from their former team-mates in the Nine box, operate so candidly in a game they were treating fairly seriously was a shock. They displayed their personalities with thoughtful and revealing remarks alongside jokey-blokey jibes in a way that most athletes don’t - or won’t - during the short times granted for cliché-filled press conferences.
World Cup to be overhauled
By Will last year, at the start of December, 5 Comments »
From Cricinfo:
Cricket Australia have already said they would welcome a shorter version, following this year’s inflated 47-day tournament which turned many off, and they’re not the only board thinking that way.
A CA spokesman, Peter Young, told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph on Thursday: “We support a shorter tournament. Most nations do now.”
Encouraging, if overdue - and frankly, the best solution would be to cast it into oblivion for good; introduce a Test-match Championship spread over two years, with a Twenty20 Championship in place of the World Cup.
5 Comments »Rest in peace, 50-over cricket?
By Will last year, at the end of September, 19 Comments »
Today’s match, the final of the World Twenty20, was a real cracker; a low-scoring thriller decided in the final over. A fitting finale (if not tribute) to the tournament, some are saying. And I dread to think of India’s reaction to it all. “The greatest day in Indian cricket history!” will be a penned as a headline, somewhere, on a newspaper, website, blog or city wall shortly I’m sure.
But hang on a minute. Is this tournament a viable replacement, as many advocate it should be, to 50-over cricket, a format that has been in place for 45 years? Are we not shortening the games for shortening’s sake?
One-dayers began as 65 overs. Then they were reduced to 60; cut to 50; snipped to 40; bolstered to 45 before levelling off at 50. Until the ECB, panicking at a decline in gate receipts, thought they’d try something new and they cut the whole thing in half again.
Twenty20 appears to have re-energised an ageing format (and game), and so it has. But how long before this too becomes stale and we watch hour-long Ten10 games?
My hunch is that we’re a few years away from Twenty20 becoming the dominant one-day format, but I’m sure it’ll happen. It’s fun, it’s new and different but it’s still one-day cricket and, thus, it sucks rather a lot. As long as they leave Tests well alone; in fact I think Inzamam-ul-Haq wants them extended to six days! Much, much more like it.
Your thoughts please.
19 Comments »No more wickets, lads!
By Ian last year, mid-July, 1 Comment »
Despite the poor weather, our village team managed to get in a game of Twenty20 last night on a surprisingly true pitch. We were playing a team that we routinely thump. They are evidently enthusiastic scholars of the game, who take an age doing everything in a proper fashion, save for all those vital moments when they actually have to bowl a ball, hit a ball or field a ball, when natural ability lets them down.
But those facets of the game within their control are done to perfection. For example, the scorebook is a sacred text, where each wide, no ball and wicket is lovingly recorded. Every detail is scrutinised at length. The batsmen revel in the pomp and ceremony of taking a guard. The bowlers proclaim loudly that they are moving round the wicket after their third successive wide, re-marking their run-up as though everything is going to plan. There are long discussions in the middle with the new batsman, discussions between overs, even discussions between deliveries; and solemn sermons before, during and after fielding about the need to walk in, attack the ball and back up. In conclusion, they take it extremely seriously, but can’t play for toffee. Most village teams have a player or two like that – they happen to have a glut of them.
Needless to state, with this attitude (arrogance or complacency, take your pick), we were skittled out for 75. They did have a few better bowlers than usual, but given all but one of us was bowled, you can see what kind of shots we played. They then came into bat and their new boys quickly slapped us about to reach 55 for 2 with about eight overs left, at which point it was announced that we had previously miscalculated and the scorebook should have read 77. No great difference to the likely result, but a welcome gesture all the same.
The run rate slowed down, but they still reached 73 with 15 balls left and six wickets in hand. Five to win, four to tie. There was no way we could possibly win from here. Or so we thought. There then followed one of the most bizarre passages of cricket I think I’ve ever witnessed. As I mentioned, we’ve played them a few times, so we know their players fairly well. The two at the crease couldn’t hit a church door with a banjo. The next men in were pretty handy, or at least better, so as long as we kept the ball outside the off stump, where it was in no danger of bowling them out or rapping their pads (their umpires would have given them LBW in a flash!), we still had a chance. Of course, you should never purposefully drop any catches or muff a run out opportunity, although I guess that is down to each cricketer’s individual morality.
“No wickets, lads!†was the cry round the field, as we all crept in to save the single. Dot ball followed dot ball, interrupted by yet another mid-pitch pow-wow by the batsmen, although heaven only knows what they were conspiring. Neither could put bat on ball! In the end, they managed just three runs from the last two and a half overs and we won by a single run. Had the scorebook not been checked, we would have lost by a run.
It was heart-breaking. We didn’t deserve to win and I almost wish we hadn’t, because it surely would have meant more to those two batsmen to have taken their team home, than it did for us to win. You can add ‘patronising’ to my arrogance and complacency, if you like, but that’s how it felt. They hadn’t simply snatched defeat from the jaws of victory – they had stuck two hands down her throat and yanked it from her belly.
1 Comment »Butcher on lead; Ramprakash on vocals
By Will last year, at the start of June, 1 Comment »
If you haven’t seen it, you’ve not missed out a great deal. But it’s a bit of a laugh anyway. Here are Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash in Surrey’s Twenty20 promo video.
Via Nathan Ross on Youtube
1 Comment »Four more runs to go
By Emma last year, at the start of May, 4 Comments »
For those who haven’t heard, Surrey made a world record 496 in 50 overs at the Oval the other day. Of the six Browncap batsmen who took to the crease, none of them managed a strike rate lower than 100, with James Benning smashing 152 off a gluttonous 134 balls at 113.43, while Rikki Clarke thumped a palindromic 82 from 28. Ali Brown, the real star of the show, made 174 from 97. Whilst I am normally loathe to put so many figures in such little space, words don’t quite adequately describe such feats.
The world record has now been broken twice in twelve months, after Sri Lanka punished the Netherlands to the tune of 443 last July. All of the top eight one-day scores have been recorded since 2002. In joint tenth, Somerset’s 413 in 1990 took 10 overs longer than India’s equal score against Bermuda just over a month ago. In fact, the closer you look at the list, the more obvious the increase in scores over time seems. This latest World Cup, furnished as it was with slow, unpredictabe wickets, has not really demonstrated the trend. However, it is inescapable that the five hundred barrier, unthinkable as little as ten years ago, is now a mere boundary beyond our reach.
Is this the result of Twenty20? Maybe the annual encouragement to hit over the top has led to the translation of flamboyance to the other formats. Or maybe it has more to do with television and ECB officials pushing in the ropes to push up the interest in a format of the game that has suddenly started to feel a bit long? Of one thing we can be sure - there aren’t going to be many bowlers in favour of cutting them any shorter.
4 Comments »Mark Waugh takes the long handle to Twenty20
By Scott last year, mid-April, No Comments; be the first!
Junior calls it ‘junk food‘. Can’t say that I disagree with him really.
No Comments »From a purely cricket perspective, I have to wonder why either man would base a competition on Twenty20? It’s entertaining, yes, and the novelty of it might even attract a few new fans to the game for a while. It’s also attractive for many because a game is over in three hours. But it isn’t cricket.
Twenty20’s like junk food. It’s a quick fix and while it might taste good there is no substance to it. The more people see of it, the more they’ll see through it.
It’s like rugby sevens. The players don’t take it too seriously and don’t lose too much sleep if they lose.
Twenty20 is the same - it’s hit and giggle.
Australia v England, Twenty20, Sydney
By Will last year, mid-January, 9 Comments »
It’s the hit-and-giggle of the winter season. I can’t imagine for a second England will win it, even with this new bloke Michael Vaughan in the side. In fact, especially with him in the side. Still, it’s always good for a giggle - even if Ricky Ponting refuses to enjoy it, or see the fun side. It’s a game, Ricky…
I think it starts at 8am tomorrow so, if you’re up and interested, post your thoughts here.
9 Comments »Essex finally win a Twenty20 competition
By Emma 2 years ago, mid-September, No Comments; be the first!
Essex look almost certain to win the Pro40 this year, and as they cruised to victory in the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup yesterday, it was easy to see why. Derbyshire did well to contain the Eagles to a total below 200 after Irani and Pettini made 60 in just under six overs. However, the game dawdled to an end when Phantoms wickets fell to insufficient cost to challenge their target.
Whilst the result was predictable, I had forgotten how much I liked visiting Derbyshire. The former Race Course Ground is some 11,000 seats light of my usual haunt, and its team are often viewed as the minnows of county cricket, but the friendliness found from fan to steward to player gives the place a strong community feel. A Test ground might have a superior square, year of tradition or impressive facilities. But you can’t tell me there is anything purer than watching a game from a chair you’ve had to pull from a stack and place at the boundary yourself.
No Comments »What has Twenty20 done to D/L?
By Emma 2 years ago, mid-September, 4 Comments »
Another day, another Pro40. Today, though, saw a late season glimpse of Twenty20 batting, after Sky’s televised game from Trent Bridge faced several interruptions. After high winds, lightning and finally an evening drizzle, Warwickshire saw their required total reduced to 124, with some 70 runs to get from just 10.5 overs. Once upon a time, a team would have balked at the sight of a required rate above 6 an over, and the visitors tried their best to suggest this hadn’t changed with the loss of two wickets in as many balls.
These days, however, such recalculations place a strike-rate savvy batting side at an advantage. Whilst I would much rather see a game play on, and wouldn’t know where to start if asked to algebra my way to a better system, Duckworth/Lewis calculations often seem a few runs light on games of significantly reduced length. Nottinghamshire, having rebuilt their innings in their last few overs to place themselves at a competitive total, will feel a little hard done by.
What this result does do is ensure that Nick Knight has played his last domestic one-day game. Having announced his retirement at the end of this season, this final win places Warwickshire safe from relegation. A pity, then, that he lost his wicket for a mere 9 runs, from an ill-advised prod outside off stump.
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