While I was in Melbourne I took the opportunity to see some Twenty 20 Cricket (T20). I have not been a huge fan of this short for of the game, but I am warming to it.
The First ODI
I digress for a moment.
I have mentioned in pervious posts that during the late sixties and early seventies, I visited Melbourne with my parents over the Xmas and New Year period. My Grandfather had moved back to Melbourne and my mother wanted see him for Xmas. Also, at that time my father played in the Australian Veterans Tennis Championships which were played as part of the Australia Open.
As well as going to Kooyong to watch the tennis, we also went to the Test Match cricket which was then played from the 31st of December each year.
In 1971, the Australian Open was move to Sydney and played later in the year. The Veterans still played in Melbourne.
The cricket that year was 1970-71 Ashes tour. The first 3 days of the Melbourne Test were washed out. So they could make some money, the ACB and the MCC decided to hold a 40 over a side (8 ball overs) one-day match. This turned out to be the One Day International (ODI) ever played. I can recall the game quite well. Under Dad’s influence I actually supported England in that series. They had a very good team led by Ray Illingworth. Geoff Boycott was in the team and the English fast bowler John Snow was at his peak.
As it turned out, Australia won the game. It is interesting to hear the players’ comments.
Check out the YouTube link.
The Growth of One Day Cricket
One-day cricket started in England in the late sixties. It was a way of the county clubs to make some more money. The attendances at the four matches had been falling. The one day game was also more suited to TV. It wasn’t long before the one day games was also played at the international level.
In Australia, the one-day game really took off with Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. It continued to be popular after cricket was reunited.
T20
Like one-day cricket, twenty/20 cricket also started in the England. The county club were looking for a game that would attract supports of Friday afternoons. The short format was ideal for the English summer evening with the long twilight. The games could be completed in natural light.
The game was taken up in India in a big way. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is huge. The teams are privately owned. The teams include both Indian and overseas players. There is an auction system wherein the teams bid for the players. The top player ‘costs’ over USD 1 million. This is very good money given the season only lasts 6 weeks.
The T20 games as introduced in Australia 5 years ago. It is known as the Big Bash League (BBL). There are two teams based in Sydney and Melbourne, and one team from Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.
There are a mixture of players. Some are drawn from the interstate Sheffield Shield teams, some for lower grade cricket and some ‘marque players’. The ‘marque players’ are typically overseas players. Example include the West Indian Chris Gayle, the South African Jacques Kallis and the former England player Kevin Pietersen.
I went to two BBL in the second and third years of the competition. The first game was at the Olympic stadium in Sydney. This turned out to be a bit of a fizzer due to rain. The second was at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That games was much better, however that crowd was relatively small.
For the first three years, the BBL wasn’t broadcast on ‘free to air TV’. In the fourth year Channel 10 started broadcasting the games. This brought the competition to a wider audience and the attendances at games started to increase.
This year the spectator support for the games really took off. There have been close to capacity crowds at the smaller grounds and over 80,000 at the MCG.
It went to the semi-final game between the Melbourne Stars and the Perth Scorchers. Kevin Pietersen played a great innings for the Stars and they won relatively easily. There was a reasonable crowd, however is was undoubtedly impact by the weather. There was rain all through the day.
I also went to the final between the Stars and the Sydney Thunder. It was a close game. Peitersen again scored well for the Stars. However, Usman Khwaja got the Thunder home with 70 0ff only 40 balls.
The crowd was over 60,00o and they really got into the game, despite the Melbourne was beaten.
Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/gp/twwilko_photos/58S156
billrider2013 