Black Caps to win World Twenty20 tournament
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By Alec Swann, 20 Feb 2010 Alec Swann is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Black Caps, Cricket, Twenty20, World Twenty20
The spate of Twenty20 internationals has got me thinking about the upcoming World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. Well, more accurately, it has got me thinking about who to have a bet on, because frankly, that’s all the tournament is good for.
I’m sure it will provide something of a spectacle and it’ll be a nice holiday for the players, but why on earth is it taking place?
As I can recall, the previous World Twenty20 was played as long ago as July last year.
It was a pretty good competition with all that is good about the shortest form of the game on display. It provided the cricketing fan with a short and sharp event and enough to build anticipation for the next instalment, which, you would’ve thought, would be two years later as would be logical.
But no, for reasons only explainable by the ICC – MONEY – it has been organised for eight months later, a ridiculously short period of time which gives everyone with an interst barely enough time to digest the previous course.
The international schedule is packed as it is without another tournament being shoehorned into a gap barely big enough to cater for it.
The next thing you know, those dollar-chasers at the IPL will be proposing a tourmanent between a number of sides from different countries (sorry, they’ve already done that) or better still, invite every country to form their own franchise in the IPL itself.
It is getting ridiculous, everyone knows it is getting ridiculous and no-one seems to care.
The dash for Twenty20 cash is approaching terminal velocity and if money is all it’s about, I might as well waste some of mine in the pursuit of more.
I don’t know why, but I fancy New Zealand to win.
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Spiro Zavos said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:57am | Report comment
If Jesse Ryder was playing for New Zealand, they’d be a good bet in the World T20.
Who won the last world tournament? Are we having a surfeit of limited over cricket, or just too much cricket? This is something the authorities will have to look at. Familiarity breeds contempt, as this season in Australia seems to suggest.
However next season we have the Ashes and this will revive everything, hopefully.
Sam said | February 20th 2010 @ 10:05am | Report comment
It was the Pakistanis, of whom a whopping zero will be playing in the IPL this year.
Whiteline said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:22am | Report comment
Cricket is in trouble. We’ve been saying there is too much meaningless games for years but now that’s it’s affecting Australia, England et al the Anglo nations realise it’s a serioius issue. I’m with Alex, this is a waste of time where there may be a touch of interest come the final but that’s about it.
Spiro you are spot on with the cricket in Australia. I witnessed a group of cricket mad 11 year olds to other day asking each other when the final ODI was on – none were certain and they really didn’t care. Now that’s a worry.
vinay verma said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:25am | Report comment
Alec,Spiro..the answer lies in the two statements Alec makes: “…who to make a bet on..frankly thats all the tournament is good for” and “…invite every country to form their own franchise in the IPL itself” In fact not countries but entities..like the rumoured interest of the MCC and the EPL.
The ICC has already voiced its concerns that the Twenty20 format is susceptible to match fixing. Cricket as you and I know it is at the mercy of criminals. I do not say this to be sensational. Think for a moment who is likely to have the cash to splurge on line betting..where you can place millions on the first six,the first run out..the number of wides; and it is rumoured the 35$million was riding on the coin toss of the first world Twenty20 in South Africa. Who has the money? Bored filmstars who recieve part of their millions under the table? Drug dealers with money to burn? Underworld czars with time on their hands.This is the dark side of cricket that hangs like a shroud. And it is no good pointing the finger just at the BCCI. Other Boards including CSA,CA and the ECB are all rushing headlong into strengthening their own Twenty20 leagues.
Brett McKay said | February 20th 2010 @ 9:15am | Report comment
Spiro, I think it was Pakistan, but I’d have to look it up to be sure…
Alec, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. We don’t need T20 International cricket at all. Keep it to the realms of domestic and franchise competitions, and let the IPL and CLT20 be the pinnacle, if that’s where the money is going to be.
I note we’ve had another ‘modern” retirement yesterday too, with Victorian left-armer Dirk Nannes stepping down from First Class cricket to concentrate on the T20 and OD formats. Flintoff, Oram, Tait, now Nannes – the list grows…
Whiteline said | February 20th 2010 @ 9:20am | Report comment
As I said Brett, it’s in trouble. Is there anyone connected with the powers that be who is smart enough to read the play and do something about it?
Brett McKay said | February 20th 2010 @ 9:27am | Report comment
Whiteline, the cynic in me would say the connections to the powers that be are all accountants….
whiteline said | February 20th 2010 @ 9:53am | Report comment
you may well be on the money, so to speak.
Justin said | February 20th 2010 @ 11:45am | Report comment
The saddest thing about all this is that the WI are hosting the tournament. After the debacle of the 50 WC the ICC reward them with another tournament!
Laughable in the extreme…
Jay said | February 20th 2010 @ 2:15pm | Report comment
get rid of the champions trophy in ODIs and keep the T20 world cup – afterall it was responsible for the growth of the game in india. prior to the first T20 world cup in SA, the BCCI hated T20 (how ironic) becuase shorter gamers = less advertising revenue. They even sent a ‘B’ class side to that T20 world cup without the like of ganguly, tendulkar, dravid.. what happened? the youngsters won and so india fell in love with the game.
its a case of use it or lose it for the ICC. given the current states of ODI’s, champions trophy and 50 over world cup may need to be revisited.
Hansie said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:04pm | Report comment
I don’t think the tournament should be called the World Cup, not when it seems to come around every 9 months. One option that might be better would be to organise 2 or 3 annual tournaments, almost like tennis grand slams, that could be played in different countries.