May 18, 2010

Has T20 got purified?

Another WC, new team wins and another market opens up. My prediction of Australia winning the WC was halted by another good performing team, England.
This is the first time, Australia seriously took T20 and we all saw how they perform. So here after it is going to be another format where they will be showing middle finger to other teams. But the most surpise package of the tournament was England which brought players who are specifically made for T20 and most of all they had very good balance. The most important thing is, they had 5 main bowlers who can bowl all the 4 overs without major problems. I believe this is where teams like India, Pakistan, WI and SL lost out.

England has won a multi nation tournament for the first time after so many attempts. The irony is that they won in a format which most of their fans consider as itsy-bitsy or hit and giggle cricket. Their love for purest form of cricket is well documented all over the place and their hatred also well known. Now the interesting question is, will they still loath the format in which they are world champions or the T20 format got purified enough for them to accept it as a legitimate and worthy format?

oh yeah, i already read here,

"For sceptics, it expunged the theory that Twenty20 provides the game with little more than garish commercialism and a bit of bish-bash"
"The slow bouncer announced itself internationally. What was once intimidation is now humiliation. It pitches short, bounces high, but takes forever to reach the batsman, often left wafting in hope. Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom conceded 31 runs in five overs at the end of Sri Lanka’s innings in the semi-final with barely a yorker in sight. Both were bowling what were, essentially, 70mph offspinners, many of them pitched half way down the wicket. The Sri Lankans were flummoxed."

If im not wrong, the slow loopy bouncer is one of the important weapon of Malinga and Fernando, they are  using that ball for atleast more than a year. Oh yeah, now has England won, those deliveries becoming the new age weapon of bowlers.

"St Lucia was slow, sticky, made for spinners and wristy batsman. Barbados was fast, true, one for the quickies and the clean hitters. You had to cope with both, which explains why an Asian side didn’t make the final (they won one of eight matches in bouncy Barbados). "
 Is it not the last 2 T20 WCs were played in SA and England? Which are supposed to be the deathbed for Asian players? But is it not the finalists were Asian teams for both the editions? So is this means, those pitches were tailor made for Asian players?

"What this tournament confirmed was that Twenty20, for all its money, is, in fact, a game for the purists."
So Ladies and Gentleman, especially those unwashed from Asia, by England winning this World cup has purified the format for future generation not to feel guilty for playing.

Hereafter, by the order of Queen of England, T20 will join the leagues of purest form of the games.

(Disclaimer: Actually i was happy to see England winning the cup, but i was pissed off by the way the commentators from England are gushing about the sudden change in the purity of the format.)

3 comments:

  1. Predictable though, don't you think?

    They were the same when they reached the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final, all of a sudden ODI's had purpose and a future as a format, then when they were flogged by the Aussies, it was the boring format of death again.

    I live here and the flip flopping over whether a short format is the 'real deal', which is almost completely dependent on how the national team actually does in it, is very amusing.

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  2. Welcome Lou,

    Yes, their position is as good as their last win in short formats. Hope atleast there will be a reduced scorn coming from there towards anything T20.

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