Indian Cricket Team

Twenty20 Cricket Match

September 12, 2007

When I heard about Twenty20 cricket, I was wondering what kind of cricket that will be and how many people must be ready to play it. As we were playing 5 days test match, one-day cricket match (with 50 over)… and suddenly something like Twenty20 cricket where there will be just 20 over to play and perform.

I was reading about Twenty20 cricket and I came to knew few interesting facts from wikipidea. There it says that these Twenty20 cricket matches already have a history. Twenty20 is a form of cricket, which was originally introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in 2003. Both teams have a single innings and bat for a maximum of 20 over.

So this started in 2003, and India has taken its first international Twenty20 cricket match in November 2006. The reason why this game can get the craze of maximum viewers is the duration of the match, Twenty20 game is completed in about three hours, with each innings lasting around 75 minutes, thus bringing the game closer to the time-span of other popular team sports such as football.

Now how it was introduced is also an interesting story, it was introduced to create a lively form of the game which would be attractive to spectators at the ground and viewers on television and as such has been very successful. As now they don’t have to sit there waiting the whole day almost to get the results of the match.

But was this anyhow meant as a replacement, well not really. The ECB did not intend that Twenty20 would replace other forms of the county game and these have continued alongside it. Now as more and more people are aware about it, the more this game has spread around the cricket world and there have also been some Twenty20 internationals, with all Test-playing nations having played at least one game.

Now does the rules are different anyhow from the normal cricket, so we actually found few rules of Twenty20 cricket online:

The Laws of cricket apply to Twenty20 with some exceptions:
• Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 2 runs and his next delivery is designated a free-hit, from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, for hitting the ball twice, obstructing the field or handling the ball, as is the case for the original “no ball”.
• Bowlers may bowl a maximum of only 4 overs per innings.
• Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.
• If the fielding team do not start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra 6 runs for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute mark; the umpire may add more time to this, if he considers the batting team is wasting time.
• The following fielding restrictions apply:
o No more than 5 fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
o During the first 6 overs, a maximum of 2 fielders can be outside the 30-yard circle.
o After the first 6 overs, a maximum of 5 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.
• If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shoot-out in football), with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.

And what’s the impact, the outcome of the whole craze about this Twenty20 cricket. Well you believe it or not but so far, Twenty20 cricket has proved very popular with the public. The examples to support my statement are:
On July 15, 2004, Middlesex vs. Surrey (the first Twenty20 game to be held at Lord’s) attracted a crowd of 26,500, the largest attendance for any county cricket game other than a one-day final since 1953.

On January 12, 2005, Australia’s first Twenty20 game was played at the WACA ground between the Western Warriors and the Victorian Bushrangers. It drew a sellout crowd of 20,700.

On February 17, 2005, Australia defeated New Zealand in the first men’s full international Twenty20 match, played at Eden Park in Auckland. The game was played in a light-hearted manner – both sides turned out in kit similar to that worn in the 1980s, the New Zealand team’s a direct copy of that worn by the Beige Brigade. Some of the players also sported moustaches/beards and hair styles popular in the 1980s taking part in a competition amongst themselves for best retro look, at the request of the Beige Brigade. Australia won the game comprehensively, and as the result became obvious towards the end of the NZ innings, the players and umpires took things less seriously – Glenn McGrath jokingly replayed the Trevor Chappell underarm incident from a 1981 ODI between the two sides, and Billy Bowden showed him a mock red card (red cards are not normally used in cricket) in response.

The first Twenty20 international in England was played between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire on the 13th June 2005, which England won by a record margin of 100 runs. On January 9, 2006, Australia and South Africa met in the first international Twenty20 game in Australia. In a first, each player’s nickname appeared on the back of his uniform, rather than his surname. The international match drew a crowd of 38,894 people at the The Gabba. Australia convincingly won the match with man of the match Damien Martyn scoring 96 runs.

On February 16, 2006, New Zealand defeated West Indies in a tie-breaking bowl-out 3-0; 126 runs were scored apiece in the game proper. The game was the last international match played by Chris Cairns – NZC handed out life-size cardboard masks of his face to patrons as they entered the ground.

Starting July 11, 2006, 19 West Indies regional teams competed in what was named the Stanford 20/20 tournament. The event has been financially backed by billionaire Allen Stanford, who gave at least US$28,000,000 funding money. West Indies legends also backed the program, and several “looked after” the teams during their stay in and around the purpose built ground in Antigua. It is intended that the tournament will be an annual event. Guyana won the inaugural event, defeating Trinidad and Tobago by 5 wickets. The top prize for the winning team was US$1,000,000, but other prizes were given throughout the tournament, such as play of the match (US$10,000) and man of the match (US$25,000).

On January 5, 2007, Queensland Bulls played the New South Wales Blues at The Gabba, Brisbane. A crowd of 11,000 was expected based on pre-match ticket sales. However, an unexpected 16,000 turned up on the day to buy tickets, causing disruption and confusion for surprised Gabba staff as they were forced to throw open gates and grant many fans free entry. Attendance reached 27,653.

Who are the International Teams for Twenty20 cricket?
The nations are listed below with the date of each nation’s Twenty20 International debut shown in brackets.
1. Australia (17th February, 2005)
2. New Zealand (17th February, 2005)
3. England (13th June, 2005)
4. South Africa (21st October, 2005)
5. West Indies (16th February, 2006)
6. Sri Lanka (15th June, 2006)
7. Pakistan (28th August, 2006)
8. Bangladesh (28th November, 2006)
9. Zimbabwe (28th November, 2006)
10. India (1st December, 2006)

Posted by preeti

Filed in cricket

Chak De India!

September 7, 2007

Indian Cricket team needs that Chak De India! spirit…

They need more of team work than individual performance. the team should be united and they should play for the nation …. they should now start playing for India.

Keep Playing India