Twenty20 Cricket

Twenty20 has changed the cricket world beyond recognition in just five years. The shortest and most explosive form of the game is developing so quickly that the more traditional forms of the game are becoming over shadowed.

Controversial? Well, the contrast between half empty test match stadiums in some parts of the world and the frenzy of a packed T20 crowd speaks for itself. Although we still have to buy tickets for an Ashes series or an India-Pakistan game months ahead, many other global test series or ODI's just don’t pull in the crowds.

The next global events in the T20 calendar will be the Indian Premier League 2010, otherwise known as IPL3, followed quickly by the ICC World Twenty20 Cup in June 2010.

Despite the pressure that these have already put on the international fixture list, more series are planned, notably the Southern Premier League in Australia and South Africa in 2011. However, this global phenomenon had a quiet beginning. The 20 overs a side game had been successful in school and midweek cricket for decades, and was only introduced to first class cricketers in the UK as Twenty20 in 2003.

The first season was a relative success, with an inter-county cup being won by the Surrey Lions. But, word of the excitement spread rapidly amongst cricket fans and the second year of the competition drew huge crowds. The first T20 game to be held at Lords attracted a crowd of 26,500, the biggest attendance since 1953 for any county match apart from a one day final. The format soon spread worldwide as national cricket boards and sponsors spotted its potential. Australia’s first T20 game was held at the WACA in 2005, attracting a sellout crowd of nearly 28,000.

In amazing scenes at the Gabba in Brisbane in 2007, 11,000 pre-sales ticketholders for a T20 match were overwhelmed at the turnstiles by another 15,000 fans, many of who had to be given free entry simply to keep the peace.

The game was soon embraced by the West Indies, Pakistan and New Zealand and the success of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 surprised even the organizers. However, India took the game to a whole new level in 2008, with the birth of the Indian Premier League. This uses the model of England Premier League football, with teams based in Indian cities. Half of the players are local and the other half are global cricket stars, bought at auction by the highest city bidder.

The main attraction of the T20 format is that matches are completed in about two and half hours, with each innings lasting around 75 minutes. This brings cricket closer to the time span of other popular team sports. It has been criticized for being a “slogathon” or not “technical cricket”, but international and county/state players are rapidly discovering that the format needs its own set of cricketing skills.

Although the shortened boundaries have encouraged batsmen to become ever more inventive in their search for fours and sixes, skilful spin bowling and medium pace variations have become key weapons for the bowlers. Captaincy skills are also vital, because 20 overs is just too short for a side to recover from a batting collapse or fielding disaster.

Twenty20 is expanding rapidly, but can it conquer the biggest untapped cricket market in the world? The USA is a difficult cricket nut to crack – its hard to convert the average American to a game that can last for five days and still not produce a positive result.

But, the intensity and showbiz of Twenty20 might just appeal to their potential huge audiences. Many were dubious of taking the soccer World Cup there in 1994, but it was a great success and soccer in the USA has never looked back since. So, what price staging the ICC World Twenty 20 Cup or the Indian Premier League in the USA? The potential media rights would be immense and the game would be exposed to a whole new audience.

Return from Twenty20 Cricket to Home Page