Twenty20 has set the cricket world alight

 
Geoff Lawson Roar Pro

By , 9 Jun 2009 Geoff Lawson is a Roar Pro

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West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul, center right, celebrates winning the match with his teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan, center left, beside Australia's Mitchell Johnson, left, during the Group C Twenty20 World Cup cricket match between Australia and the West Indies at The Oval cricket ground in London, Saturday June 6, 2009. AP Photo/Matt Dunham

West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul, center right, celebrates winning the match with his teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan, center left, beside Australia's Mitchell Johnson, left, during the Group C Twenty20 World Cup cricket match between Australia and the West Indies at The Oval cricket ground in London, Saturday June 6, 2009. AP Photo/Matt Dunham

It’s cold here in England and occasionally windy as well. Perfect weather for cricket. The Poms love wearing an anorak to Lords or The Oval, a thermos of tea and a cheese sandwich tucked under the arm on the Bakerloo Line or Northern Line.

When they arrive at the grounds, they can buy a plastic bucket of beer to see them through the action.

The World Twenty20 Cup is up and running under dripping skies and temperatures in the teens. Somehow, after the first three days, all fixtures have managed to be completed, albeit the Scotland Vs New Zealand game being a total of 13 overs.

Despite the crush on the tube and the multiple layers of clothing, the shortest form of the game has set alight the generous crowds.

The sixes and fours from reverse sweeps and ‘ramp’ shots over the ‘keeper have people buzzing. They like this fluffy improvised stuff, a lot.

Perhaps, like the rest of the world, we have had enough soccer to last several lifetimes (England four Kazakhstan-nil on Saturday, if you missed the score from Almaty).

England’s shock, horror, “we are England and deserve to beat the guys across the Channel who play in clogs,” was appropriately played on the anniversary of D Day, but more closely evoked memories of Dunkirk.

England soon put the unthinkable in the past tense by thrashing a Pakistan team who have returned to the bad old days of inappropriate selections, dreadful fielding, and eclectic leadership.

Pakistan now have to beat the mighty Netherlands by more than 50 runs to avoid the elimination that pursued England.

Meanwhile, the Australians, unsettled by further alcohol fueled antics by the man with more comebacks than Dame Nellie, also need to win against a fairly handy Sri Lankan team on Monday evening in Nottingham to escape the ignobility of a two week training camp in Leicestershire while the nearest they get to the winner’s presentation is the TV set in their hotel rooms.

And all this in the first 72 hours!

Chris Gayle must have mistaken Brett Lee’s bowling for the first tee at St Andrews as he hit the Lazarus bowler over the five story high Bedser Stand, a couple of bounces on the slate into the surrounding streets.

Lee bowled all four of his allocated overs, a poor piece of captaincy in itself (or are the Australians still not treating a twenty over World Tournament as a fitness trial for the July 8 Test match?), going for 56 runs.

Mike Hussey didn’t get his hands on a high catch for the second time and wafted luckily with the blade. He continues to look like a man past his best.

Brad Hodge must be dizzy from shaking his head in disbelief.

Whether Australia make it past Sri Lanka and into the second round may be a moot point as the selectors must already be reconsidering their decision to select an under-done, out-of-form, aging bowler lacking any type of meaningful cricket since Christmas in the Ashes squad.

It makes a mockery of Doug Bollinger’s outstanding domestic form and palatable but limited international experience.

Slow bowling is proving its worth already in the Twenty20 and Australia select none.

The English media and fans lapped up the Australian loss as if gifted from the cricket gods. If their own team could lose to the Dutch, then it was good medicine for the locals when the Aussies to lose to anybody.

Ponting may not have his boys thinking or uttering the magic “Ashes” phrase, but any stumble by the men from down under is highlighted and magnified, often with the distortion that only the English tabloids can utter.

Ricky Ponting was not expecting to be under pressure this early in the northern sojourn. That may have come late in July and early August if a Test or two were lost.

The Twenty20 may be fun for some, but just ask the teams that lose if they feel like smiling.

By Monday, 8:30 pm local time, a new scenario will develop when the result of the Sri Lankan clash is known. The forecast is for more rain and no rise in the mercury.

If the game gets rained out, Australia are out of the Cup and into Leicester. But then, it never rains when you want it to.

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