The Roar » rugbyguy

Let’s face it: Twenty20 is just not cricket

rugbyguy — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:12:57 +0000

The problem cricket has today is maintaining popularity and attracting new fans. In order to enjoy a game of cricket, you must first understand the game – not just the rules, but the intricate and subtle strategies involved.

Cricket is an extremely complicated sport, and it took me a long time to even begin to understand it. As a child, and as a teen, I hated cricket.

I thought it was boring and slow.

But after living with some fans at university and being forced to watch a few Test matches, I began to understand the game and I grew to love it.

How do explain the significance of a dot ball to someone who doesn’t know about cricket? How can you explain the intrigue and excitement felt when a batsmen plays and misses or is forced to block 20 balls in a row?

Unless you understand the game, the strategy and tactics of a captain’s field placements will mean nothing to you.

Twenty 20 cricket has done a lot to attract new fans, but this short form of the game contains very little of the strategy that makes cricket so entertaining to me.

There simply is not enough time in this shortened form of the game to implement the tactics that allow pressure to be built up on the batsmen or the entire batting side.

The value of each wicket is often not of much importance. Batsmen can swing and take risks without significant consequence to their team.

In a way, this makes for an entertaining match. But for me, the novelty and enjoyment of watching batsmen try to slog at every ball didn’t last much more than a few games.

I much prefer the intensity and suspense of a duel between an opening batsmen and bowler; the battle of wits and of nerve when a batsmen has to build his innings through cunning and skill.

I love to watch a bowler trying to out think the batsmen, To force the batsmen into playing the wrong shot or into leaving a ball he should have defended.

As opposed to Twenty20, where the bowler just tries to bowl dot balls and wait for the batsmen to make a mistake.

I love to see an attacking field setting, men up close surrounding the batsmen, trying to force him to hit over the fielders, trying to cut off the singles and frustrate the batsmen into a rash shot.

As opposed to Twenty20, where fielders sit on the boundary waiting to catch a miss-timed shot, ready to cut of boundaries but happy to give up runs so long as its only one at a time.

Twenty 20 cricket is fun and great for TV channels, who can fit the three hour match neatly into their schedules and it’s a great source of much needed revenue. But for me, it’s a completely different game. And it’s just not cricket.

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Article link: Let’s face it: Twenty20 is just not cricket. Written by rugbyguy, on The Roar - Your Sports Opinion

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