T20 Too Long

Cricket gets another haircut: T10 is the new T20.

Peter Lalor. 

The Australian.

Saturday, 6 October 2017.

PTG 2271-11491.

As South Africa wrestles with its players and the game’s ruling body in a move to shorten its Boxing Day Test to four days (PTG 2265-11462, 3 October 2017), an entrepreneur has announced that T20 is too long and T10 is what distracted fans need. The inaugural edition of the 10-overs-per-side T10 Cricket League is to be played in Sharjah in December and will feature eight subcontinental themed franchises: Team Punjabis, Team Pakhtoons, Team Maratha, Team Banglas, Team Lankans, Team Sindhis and Team Keralites.  Players for those teams will be selected through a draft system later this month.

Well-known players such as Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, Kumar Sangakkara and former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq have all signed for the new competition.  Games last 90 minutes, the tournament is completed in a matter of days and spectators are advised to be seated on time lest they miss an innings or a match.

Nano cricket has taken a number of shapes over the years. In the 1990s Martin Crowe designed 'Cricket Max' which featured two innings of 10 eight-ball overs per team. The Hong Kong Sixes tournament later this month sees teams of six players bowl five overs in what is essentially a 10-over game.

The devolution of the game fulfils a 2006 prophecy of then acting honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Niranjan Shah who rejected proposals that the International Cricket Council hold a T20 tournament that year.  “T20? Why not 10-10 or 5-5 or 1-1?”, Shah infamously said at the time.  He warned that India would never play T20, but eventually agreed to what became the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship series of 2007 but insisted participation not be compulsory.

India left many of its best players at home but won that tournament and the new format was embraced in a way nobody had ever imagined. With the rebel Indian Cricket League having established a toe hold, the BCCI dropped its objections, formed the Indian Premier League and the face of world cricket changed forever.

Afridi, 37, who retired last year from international cricket, leads the charge of excited elderly participants.  “When I was told of the idea I was thrilled and requested that I play”, he said.  Misbah, 43, who retired earlier this year also saw an opportunity for those in their twilight years.  “It’s an exciting idea and a good thing for players like me”, he said. “It will need just 10 overs of batting and then fielding, and at this age I can afford that”.

England One Day International captain Eoin Morgan believes he has got in on the ground floor of "an exciting new concept".  “We all remember when the first time Twenty20 cricket was played and since then it has impacted the other formats”, he said. “If this new idea takes off then I am sure it will also impact the other forms of the game”.