CATCH 20/20

Been thinking. Everyone – you know, everyone – has been saying that Twenty20 will be best served by being restricted to only one or two matches per summer. Trouble is, if we only have one or two matches, what’s the point?

See where I’m coming from?

If a match is not a part of a larger competition it becomes a novelty or a gimmick or a gigantic “retail opportunity,” as Martin Brundle once referred to an ad break in the Melbourne Grand Prix.

Then if there are too many matches, Twenty20 runs the risk of losing credibility in the same way Fifty50 has lost credibility with all its meaningless matches.

So how’s it going to fit in?

Well, if we take last night’s match as an example we would conclude from a purely cricket perspective that it’s not going to fit in very well at all. A crap match was all over 15 minutes after it started. But from a financial perspective we would conclude it’s going to fit in very nicely indeed, thank you very much, you’re welcome, don’t mention it. We could even extrapolate from the second perspective that the other Strayan states will start fretting that all international Twenty20 matches will end up at the MCG given it is the home of Strayan cricket, the people’s ground, the paddock that grew, and most significantly, holds more than twice as many cash cows and stakeholde… paying customers as any cricket venue in this wide brown land of sunburn.

Twenty20 is also still in a state of “so what”. Say what? Well, Straya won and Captain Nemo was “speechless” at how well Straya played, while India lost and Dhoni Kebab shrugged it off as only a “practice game”. Surely if it’s just a practice game, losing doesn’t matter and if losing doesn’t matter, the match is meaningless.

That said, I’ve been saying for years that Straya treat the Benson & Hedges, Fosters, Carlton, VB, CB Series as a round of practice matches for the Fifty50 World Cup. Actually, they probably were not doing that as far back as the B&H days, but they have certainly been doing it since they lost the 1996 World Cup. Anyhoo, it is conceivable there is something in what Kebab says: India could well have treated last night as a praccy. Fifty50’s lost lustre is often attributed to the many matches being used to trial players and tactics for the World Cup. Who’s to say Twenty20 won’t go the same way. It certainly will if Kebab & Co treat the matches as trial games.

Not that Kebab downplayed the nature of India’s victory in the ICC World Twenty20. Nor did they suggest they hadn’t earned the cars and homes they were given when they got back to India. Yet THAT was a practice run for the first Twenty20 World Cup.

Regular AGB readers would not be confused, but just in case you wandered in here by mistake from the wilds of newspapers or talk radio - last September’s ICC World Twenty20 was not the Twenty20 World Cup. So stop saying India are the Twenty20 World Cup champions.

One thing in particular I want to mention from last night is the fielding. Before I turned over to The Murder Room on ABC at 8:30, the commentators couldn’t stop raving about the Aussie fielding. (When they weren’t drooling over the size of the crowd.) Fair enough, the Strayan fielding was superb. But until it translates into catching in the Tests I’ll reserve my judgment as to whether Twenty20 is a good influence on Test cricket. I’d much rather we took our catches in the Tests than save a few runs in the field with dynamic dives.

Speaking of catching, Mark has a good piece on the influence of the keeper:

Gil Christ Superstar!

A lot of commentators have made the very valid point about Adam Gilchrist, in that he revolutionised the way test sides now view their wicketkeeping position.

Last word on last night: Nemo’s captaincy. Can’t say if it was good or bad based on one viewing, but he certainly looked the part jumping here and there, looking serious, fielding like a demon, batting well and being named man of the match. At one point I had a chuckle when he whistled and flicked his fingers to move a fielder in the deep. Bet there’s someone out there whose delicate sensibilities are ready to be offended. There’s probably also a working dog somewhere who “got in behind”.

Comments

[The Mongrel]

Someone should have had a sign at the G last night along the lines of
"THE PLANE'S FUELLED UP AND READY TO GO!"

I can't believe that CA put pressure on the Aussie cricketers to downgrade the racism charge against the "intemperate Sikh warrior" (copyright P Roebuck) 'cos ESPN would have sued CA for $60m if the Indians went home.

I can see that ESPN wouldn't be happy, but surely the fault would lie with the team that abandoned the tour - ie the Indians.

I love cricket, and I hate to see the utter contempt for authority shown by the subcontinental teams, of which the Bollyline Crisis is but the latest. A good summary of these is in today's Herald.

Contempt for authority will destroy a sport. It's an issue that transcends nationality, race and culture. Tennis suffered for years before it got serious about abuse of umpires. I hate to see how low cricket will go before the ICC (and by extension the BCCI) do the same.

It will probably involve a country outside the subcontinent carryong on the way the Indians are now. Just as the English only got serious about banning Leg Theory (aka Bodyline) after County teams adopted it.

[Tony T]

Given the way CricAussie have cracked down on any misbehaving, there's rock all chance of a sign like that passing muster. Pity.

Speaking of tennis. It sh1ts me that people want to compare the conduct of the Aussie cricketers with Federer. He was a sh1tty loser before he started to be a big time winner and he's a sh1tty loser again now that he's started to lose.

[David Barry]

I'm hoping that T20 will fit in by being mostly a club-based or state-based format. Countries play Test cricket; state or club franchises or whatever play T20 cricket (and they'll be doing this in competitions, so the matches will be meaningful). Meaningless ODI's disappear (OK, I'm dreaming...). Bring on the IPL!

And if that means that T20 Internationals are meangingless, then hey, most of the time they're still a lot of fun. At least when we bat first.

[Tony T]

Not a million miles away from your point, Dave, I was having a chat yesterday about the possibility of footy clubs setting up their own T20 teams and T20 being played over the course of a 15 game season, or whatever. Not particularly likely, but certainly in line with your franchise point.

[Scott Wickstein]

That's a good idea, actually... given that we have to have T20 cricket we should do it in an interesting way.

[The Mongrel]

Spot on about the poor conduct of Federer, Tony.

Andrew Bolt had an item this week putting Federer forward as an example to cricketers. He must have been having a wind-up.

Here's Federer being interviewed after he was eliminated from the Open this year:

Q. Do you think he'll go on and win the final now?

ROGER FEDERER: I don't care really.

______________________________________________

Q. Will you watch the final?

ROGER FEDERER: I don't know if I'm here, so we'll see.

Q. If you're away, will you try and find it on a television station somewhere?

ROGER FEDERER: No, I won't.

Quite the well-bred young charmer, isn't he? And certainly a model for our cricketers to follow. Not.

[Tony T]

Actually, Mong, I don't mind that Federer gets narky. I do mind when someone tries to tell me he's a paragon of sporting behaviour; and that cricketers are turds compared with Federer. That tells me more about the person making the comparison than it does about either the turds or Federer.

I liked Roger's "I don't care really."

[joe]

I like the photo of Sideshow and RollerBoy, sort of sums the blokes up doesn't it?
RollerBoy isn't even man enough to look Roy in the eye.
Snivelling, spineless, lying, racist cheat, doesn't even deserve to be on the same field as Sideshow.

[Boo]

>> RollerBoy isn't even man enough to look Roy in the eye.

You know as well as I do, that the photographer probably snapped a dozen pics and picked the one that would attract precisely the kind of ignorant, prejudiced remark that you just made. But ignorance and prejudice win over common sense any day, don't they? :)

[Tony.T]

Actually, Boo, I agree that the subbies pick the best photo to suit their purposes.

[joe]

Yes Boo, you biggoted ignorant dimwit, I know the photographers pick the photo that suits them. All I was saying is that particular photo sums up the lilly livered turd that rollerboy is. Nothing more, nothing less. He is a sh*t of the first order.