New Twenty20 rule: Last man standing
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By CJ, 22 Feb 2010 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Cricket, Last man standing, Twenty20
During several beers with the boys last weekend, we came up with a new rule for Twenty20 cricket: Last man standing. We thought it would be an exciting and worthy addition to the circus that is the Twenty20 format.
So I want to run it by Roar readers for some feedback because I’m sure the idea must have occurred to others.
I propose a new rule for Twenty20: Last man standing.
The rule holds that when the 10th wicket falls, instead of being dismissed with his fallen comrade, the 11th batsman takes strike … alone.
The 11th batsman must then score runs that always leave him on strike.
For example: 2, 4 or 6 runs and a single or 3 off the final ball of each over.
His wicket – or being caught at the non-strikers end – would end the innings.
We felt that this new rule would make for some truly memorable finales. It would provide a stage for lone heroes to come forth, stand tall and potentially snatch a dramatic victory from the jaws of defeat.
Whaddaya reckon?
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The Crowd Says (13) | Page 1 of Comments
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Brett McKay said | February 22nd 2010 @ 7:45am | Report comment
CJ, I reckon it’s got some merit actually. Just a question though, I’d assume if the non-striker (presuambly the 10th man dismissed) was run out, that would also end the innings??
I’ve got another one for you, and it would have come into play in the T20I last night in Hobart: the Mercy Rule
If a team batting second finds themselves so far behind that the run rate gets above 36rpo, that’s the game. IN last night’s game, the Windies needed 40 off the last 6 balls, and thus had no chance of winning. Once you start needing a six of every ball, I figure you don’t deserve the benefit of wides or no-balls….
Kento said | February 22nd 2010 @ 8:57am | Report comment
Love the idea. You might be interested in this new competition which is outside of CA but seems to be growing rapidly: http://www.lastmanstands.com/ As their name implies, they have Last Man Stands rules. Great idea.
CJ said | February 22nd 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Thanks Kento. That’s an excellent find. I was sure the idea must have occurred to others – it’s a natural progression of the game!
LMS Sydney said | March 3rd 2010 @ 9:20pm | Report comment
You’re right on the money CJ. We’ve had a universally popular response to the ‘Last Man Stands’ rule ever since we first adopted it in our Twenty20 competition in London in 2005. It turns so many otherwise-dead games into real thrillers. There’s so often classic matches involving one guy left carring his team’s hopes on his shoulders.
For example, just last month one of our Sydney teams found themselves on 61 with only one wicket and 10 overs left. The last man standing, Andrew Cooney, then smashed an unbeaten 92 to win the game for his side with one ball to spare. In May last year, we had an even more extreme game in Sydney, where one team had lost all but one of their wickets and needed 17 an over from the last four overs to win. A South African player was left as the last man standing, and put in one of the most destructive displays of hitting you’ll ever see as he hammered boundaries all over the park in a crazy innings of 76 off 24 balls. His team ended up winning with nearly an over to spare in the end!
Our rules are that the last man standing can only run 2s or hit boundaries. They can’t run singles or 3s, even off the last ball of the over. i.e. even with a dot ball or 2 off the last ball of the over they remain on strike. The main problem with trying to force the last man standing to hit a single off the last ball to remain on strike is that all the opposition fielders come in to restrict the single and you are almost always left with a run out, or the last man not being on strike for the next over.
Dogz R Barkn said | February 22nd 2010 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Great idea!
We should never shy away from the fact that a lot of the attraction of Twenty20 is that it’s precisely the sort of cricket that we played and enjoyed as kids – the sort of game you’d play during your lunch or immediately after school.
So a variation of the “last man gets his tucker” rule is most welcome!!
Sharminator said | February 22nd 2010 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Introduce tip n run too … touch the ball with your bat and you´ve gotta run .. not sure when though .. or maybe the oppostition captain can insist on it for 1 over .. or something like that.
and get rid of the wicketkeeped and put a volkswagon behind the wicekts instead! If the batsman hits the ball and it touches the volkswagon …. OUT!!!
I actually quite like CJ´s suggestion … but since we´ve bought up the idea … has anyone else got any backyard cricket suggestions for 20-20?
Brett McKay said | February 22nd 2010 @ 11:16am | Report comment
Sharminator, tip & run was obviously in jest, but maybe there’s merit in the indoor cricket variation, whereby after two dot balls, the score must change somehow on the third, either by a run or sundry or whatever. Obviously in Indoor, this is made easy by the score losing five runs for each wicket (rather than losing the wicket itself), and this is the penalty for a third dot ball too…
Jay said | February 22nd 2010 @ 12:47pm | Report comment
I dont think it will work. The English researchers who ‘created’ T20 trailed many variations of the cricket format. They figured out that the best format for T20′s was to align it closely as possible to actualy cricket.
Unless the ‘last man staning’ rule is a success in tests or ODIs, it shouldnt be applied in T20. Good innovation though, dont think it will work
Hazey the Bear said | February 22nd 2010 @ 12:53pm | Report comment
I’ve been trying to start a local 20/20 comp with some modified rules – similar to indoor cricket.
10 players a side
Bowling/fielding
No “power-play” – less fielders means gaps should be easier to find
Each player bowls 2 overs
No-balls and wides are not rebowled, but incur two extras. The next ball is also a free hit.
Batting
Each player plays in a partnership of 4 overs
Wickets do not dismiss the batsmen, but incur a five-run penalty
Sub-rule
A player can “sub” out of bowling/batting with another player (ie. if a player wishes to bowl an extra 2 overs, he may trade his batting position with another player who in return does not bowl/also vice versa)
This can happen up to twice per team during the game, and must be done before the end of the first innings
Essentially the game-plan came about after our last 20/20 comp, where it was greatly one-sided. I wanted to make the game more competitive and give each player an even amount of game time. Unfortunately, the comp is between a group of college students and most of them are still away. I wanted to play a couple of trial games, but the weather hasn’t been cooperating (Hunter region of NSW).
Personally, I think it has world-wide potential…What do you guys think?
Hammer said | February 22nd 2010 @ 2:01pm | Report comment
If you want “new” ideas look toward the old max cricket that was played in NZ … split the 20 overs per side into 2 innings each – that way the the crowd can see the “stars” batting twice – esp if the cop a jaffa early … another one was scoring zones that double the runs scored …
Dogz R Barkn said | February 22nd 2010 @ 2:29pm | Report comment
I remember one variation of backyard cricket at a mates house where if you could cut the ball through an open garage side door (about 10 metres square to the wicket), you could score 20 runs.
Needless to say, it encouraged bowlers to put them down the leg side.
Jameswm said | February 23rd 2010 @ 11:44am | Report comment
What about if you all get out you just go back tot he start of the batting order again, till the end of the 20 overs?
CJ said | February 23rd 2010 @ 12:36pm | Report comment
There was a suggestion of a baseball-esque “Pinch Hitter”.
So you could sub in anyone for your 11th-man heroics.
I like it!