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Twenty20 cricket has come of age
Media comment: The World Twenty20 in England has shown that the short-form game demands new skills of cricketers
Twenty20 cricket has finally proved that it is a game that "grown-ups" can enjoy, pronounces Richard Williams in the Guardian. "Noisy, colourful, shot through with moments of great skill and reaching a climax that made Lord's feel like the centre of the universe, Sunday's World Twenty20 match between England and India was good enough to convert all but the most curmudgeonly of cricket's followers."
Sure the game contained such memorable moments as Yuvraj Singh's first-ball six off Dimitri Mascarenhas, "Stuart Broad's magnificent overhead boundary catch to dismiss Ravindra Jadeja or James Foster's wonderfully clinical stumping of Yuvraj, all examples of specialist skills worthy of the game's longer forms."
"But they also belonged to the context in which they actually occurred. They were great Twenty20 moments and we can expect many more," promises Williams. For Twenty20 is demanding that professional cricketers add new strings to their bows. "The classic requirement of a sound technique with bat or ball is no longer enough. Now, with every delivery carrying significance, the players need to be endlessly adaptable and audacious, inventing their responses to meet the demands of the moment."
"Cricket lovers who grew up with cable-knit woollen sweaters, sausage-roll batting gloves, proper leather boots and the beauty of a slow-motion Ken Barrington century have found it hard to come to terms with a game so utterly different in its superficial aspects."
Williams concludes that "the only people still resisting Twenty20's appeal seem to be a section of the MCC membership who appeared to have organised a boycott on Sunday. On a festive and enthralling occasion, their absence was signalled by the many empty seats in front of the Lord's pavilion. Some sort of arrangement should be made to ensure that, if they are not interested in attending, their places go to cricket lovers not hidebound by joyless prejudice." ·
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I've tried watching 20/20 but my stomach churns, especially when that dreadful music strikes up. Dirty Digger Murdoch has prevented me from watching Test cricket on terestial TV, ably supported by a weak and amoral puppet government.
All the subtlety and strategic planning of Test cricket, played over 5 days of tension, intrigue and tactical challenge, has now been reduced to a vulgar piece of circus banality, fit for morons and Americans. Please get rid of it at once.
It has certainly made a convert to cricket of me. Despite having good WI credentials, I never could understand the game. Perhaps I did not try hard enough. But my 92 year old mother who is as sharp as a new needle and is conversant with all games- football, soccer, cricket, baseball, basket ball, the lot- taught me some basics while we watched the current series and I have to say that I am enjoying it.