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For all the bells and whistles, the colour and bling of Twenty20 cricket, there’s always been a looking-down-the-nose attitude that the critics like to trot out whenever it suits.
“It’s just not cricket,” they’ll say.
‘They’ can’t really be pigeon-holed into any one category, though. There’s just as many people well younger than me with this opinion as there are in the ‘grumpy old cricket purist’ collection.
Whatever their age, the train of thought is the same – Twenty20 cricket is purely about entertainment, and everything we know about batting is chucked out the window in favour of switch-hitting and ramp shots.
There’s very little skill involved, they might even say.
To which I will repeat my long-held challenge to those who can’t look beyond the purple and teal and magenta kits: forget the names, forget the uniforms, and forget the score. Just focus on the individual contest of bat on ball.
When you just look at the BBL and Twenty20 cricket in this barest form, the skills of the players shine.
As Mike Hussey explained beautifully the other night in commentary, the skill involved in Glenn Maxwell playing that reverse slog-sweep pull shot of his – and regardless of what you think of the shot itself or the point in the game when he plays it – is actually quite incredible. It’s a bloody difficult shot to play poorly, never mind play it well.
Regardless, the subtext of these criticisms is there’s no place for the orthodox cricket textbook, and Twenty20 cricket is essentially a game for the young punks who want to play like rock stars and millionaires.
However, when you delve a little deeper, that stereotype doesn’t necessarily stand up.
In the 2013/2014 edition of the Big Bash League – for which I’ll happily disclose I’ve been providing the official match previews for CA to publish on the BBL website (and which we’ve also been running here on The Roar) – the top performers in the competition are far greyer around the edges than the critics might realise.
Among the top batsmen for BBL|03, or ‘batters’ as we seem to be calling them now, names like Simon Katich, Mike and David Hussey, Brad Hodge and Michael Klinger appear alongside the Luke Wrights, the Aaron Finchs, the Cameron Whites, and the Chris Lynns.
The standout for me on this list (aside from the obvious worth of the veterans) is you have to get well down the list to find a player, Dan Christian, who regularly uses those ‘rock star’ shots the purists are so quick to bemoan.
Moises Henriques would be the youngest player in the top ten run-scorers, yet his game remains largely from the coaching manual as we know it.
The traditional cricket shots are still dominating the shortest form of cricket.
Yes, players like Brad Hodge and the Husseys have been able to develop their game for Twenty20, and do have something funky up their sleeve if the need arises.
Brad Hodge plays some shots these days that would’ve had him hung, drawn and quartered like an early-90s Damien Martyn if he played them during his time in the Test team, yet all these power shots of Hodge’s are still based to the orthodox.
Simple, yet important tweaks in his footwork – like stepping to midwicket and hitting over cover – mean Hodge has been able maintain his power base in his stance and breathe new life into his traditional game, and indeed, earn an Australian recall aged 39.
He’s become the leading runscorer in the history of Twenty20 cricket through his evolution and experience, not because he can play a ramp shot.
The younger ‘hitters’ on the list – guys like Aaron Finch, Ben Dunk and Cameron White – have become so destructive for their ability to hit orthodox lofted drives and horizontal bat shots because they see the ball so early and the bat-speed they generate is incredible.
I can’t readily think of anyone who swings the bat faster than White does at the moment.
And yes, these guys are certainly being aided by the nature of the pitches in use in the BBL and in limited overs cricket in general.
Being able to trust the bounce certainly gives you the extra confidence to swing through the line of the ball if you see it early enough. Ditto the generous setting of the boundary ropes too, which in some cases have been a good 20-30 metres in from the fence.
And this seems pointless, too, given the number of sixes that have cleared the fence, not just the rope.
Interestingly, it’s been the younger, well-hyped batsmen who have somewhat struggled this season in the BBL.
Guys like Alex Hales, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell and Mitch Marsh have had their moments, but they’ve also let themselves down with their shot selection at times.
These guys are certainly no less talented than their older contemporaries, but it’s a great snapshot of what the benefit of experience brings to the naturally talented (and especially the less talented but harder working).
This has been the most interesting observation in paying closer attention to the BBL this year. It most certainly still is cricket and, just as importantly, cricketers are still dominating it.