Scott Styris smash can't hide need for a T20 overhaul - World of Cricket
That was how it was meant to be. A packed house, sunshine and spectacular, fun cricket. Watching Scott Styris of Sussex demolish Gloucestershire with a century off just 37 balls in the Twenty20 quarter-final at Hove was a reminder of just why the short-form ‘monster’ that England created took the world game by storm.
It is not normally like that now. Not in England, anyway. OK, the weather has been dismal in the main, but this year’s Friends Life t20 has looked a tournament in desperate need of an overhaul. The goose that laid the golden egg has looked well and truly cooked and ready to be served up for a last supper.
During one of this year’s many rain breaks the other week, Sky showed a re-run of the 2008 Twenty20 final at the Rose Bowl when I reckon the ‘new’ format was very much at its peak. There was a cracking final between Kent and Middlesex. Bumble at his absolute best on the mic, Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame sitting with the players in the dug-out and a young lad dancing in the stands who was to become something of a symbol of all that was good about Twenty20.
My sports editor was so taken by it that Sportsmail devoted its main feature pages to finals day the following Monday, the only time in my memory that county cricket has so captured popular imagination. It has been downhill since then.
There are many reasons for that. Too many games, of course. Counties playing their matches too closely together — this year Surrey, for example, played four games in a week and then had a week off — and a bonkers schedule and start times.
Glory days: Eoin Morgan celebrates Middlesex's T20 triumph in 2008Prices are too high, too, at £20-£25 for adults and £10-£15 for children. With home games clustered together how can families possibly afford to go to every match?
Tuesday’s first two quarter-finals, crucially played at two of the smaller county venues in Taunton and Hove that still often put up the ‘full house’ signs, was a reminder of how good it still can be when it gets to knockout cricket. So were Wednesday’s clashes at Headingley and Trent Bridge.
But, of course, the ECB have done their best to weaken the competition still further by moving finals day from the middle of summer, where it was so well suited, to the football season at the end of August.
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A quick survey on Twitter conducted while watching the pyrotechnics of Styris revealed some interesting views on the future of Twenty20 in this country. What do you want to see, I asked.
‘Nothing wrong with T20, just needs good weather and the rest looks after itself,’ said Mike Gidley.
‘Needs a serious shake-up. Franchises only way to attract best T20 players,’ said James Morrison.
‘How can anyone advocate franchise cricket if it takes games away from packed grounds like Taunton?’ asked RM.
Alec Swann, a former player, brother of Graeme and now a respected cricket writer, had the final word. ‘Don’t be fooled by the knockout stages. The majority of group games suggest a competition that’s way past its sell-by date,’ wrote Swann.
I agree with Alec. Something needs to be done. I have always been suspicious of franchises.
We are a tribal lot, after all, so would we really warm to teams representing London, Birmingham and Manchester? But maybe it’s worth a go. The counties would just have to lump it. It would be them who would be bailed out financially yet again if franchises worked. It would be fun to see if they would.
Ouch!Spare a thought for James Fuller, who probably wishes Twenty20 would disappear altogether after going for 38 — yes, 38 — in a single over at the hands of Styris.
The 22-year-old, originally from Cape Town, will go down as the bowler who delivered the most expensive over in professional cricket history.
It went like this: A beamer which went to the boundary (six, including two for the no-ball); no-ball four (six); free-hit full toss over square leg for six; another full toss, another six; back-of-a-length ball glided down to fine leg for four; a dot ball (glory be!); a top-edged pull for four and a six over long on.
Poor Fuller had a wry smile on his face at the end of the over. He will need to retain his sense of humour to recover from that.
Bumble's Final WordTwenty20 was rocking again on Tuesday with two quarter-finals at grounds packed to the rafters and it just goes to show you what a difference sunshine makes to any cricket. I can promise you the games were full on, too.
But I’m still in favour of a city-based franchise competition for the future of T20 in this country. We have to accept that we have a low-key product and are the poor relations of the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash.
Razzmatazz: English T20 cricket needs a touch of the IPL glamourMost of the counties are cash-strapped but this would bring new money to the game and, crucially, would work around the counties. It would be radical but it would have razzmatazz. And it would be exciting. Start a very different car...
More... Proteas ace Kallis sits out ODI series with England to rest ahead of T20 World Cup Smith set to return in time for second Test after flying home for birth of first child Styris hits joint-third fastest ton in t20 history to blast Sussex into Friends Life finals day Dale Steyn exclusive: A five-star show... and they said that I was injured!
