Alright, yesterday's 20-20 cricket match between Australia and England may have been yet another damning indictment of the English team's depressing perils, and Australia may have proven yet again why there is such a wondrous gulf between them and the rest of the cricketing world. But if ever cricket has thrown up a sight to behold that exuded pure thrilling entertainment, it had to be Australia's batting in the first innings. Actually, it may not be entirely correct to describe what Australia did in the first part of the match as 'batting'. 'Massacre' might be a much more appropriate expression. In what turned out to be a record-shattering innings, the Aussie batsmen launched an astonishing onslaught on the hapless English players, and in the end it seemed so much like child's play for the marauding batsmen that it was positively scary.
Hayden was all muscle and aggression, Gilchrist's clean hitting and awesome power were mind-boggling, Ponting was thunderous class personified, and Symonds was buccaneeringly brutal. Even the relatively unknown Craig White feasted sumptuously on the format and England, and Michael Vaughan's men could only gaze on stupefied and dazed by the violent assault. 221 runs in 20 overs is no joke, as the unfortunate English batsmen found all too painfully when it was their turn to bat. To say that the Aussie spectators had a rip-roaring time would be an understatement. The fireworks provided by Australia's batsmen which were followed by the spectacular fireworks provided by the kind Sydney organisers made sure that the day was nothing less than one huge festive party.
I must confess that this was the first 20-20 match I've watched live on TV. And just this one experience was enough to turn me into a huge fan of the format. I'm convinced - this is the future of cricket. And a money-spinning future too. Just have a look at the overwhelming response cricket-lovers have given to 20-20. Whether it's England, South Africa or Australia, the crowds turn up in droves to witness the mad bashing and mauling of bowlers at the hands of some merciless batsmen. So what if the importance of technique and classy strokelay has been diminished? We do have Tests to preserve cricket in its purest form, don't we? When one-day international matches were started, I'm pretty darned sure there must have been the same snobbish protests against its 'unruly' nature. "Mediocrity will be encouraged", "batting and bowling will never again be conventional enough to qualify as art", "cricket will no longer be a gentleman's game". These are the oh-so-predictable disagreements with the shortening of the game, aren't they? Well, to that I just have to say that if the countless incidents of less-than-gentlemanly behaviour over the past decade or so including last year's Oval disaster are any indication, then cricket has ceased being a gentleman's game since a long long time.
Ironically, the performers of yesterday's magnificent display themselves have misgivings about 20-20 cricket. According to Ricky Ponting, a format 'which is a whole lot of fun but not very intense' does not appeal too greatly to his fiercely competitive mind. Adam Gilchrist and Co. have also registered their mild disapproval of the format. While the players themselves have every right to frown upon a novelty that seems threatening enough to their playing mindsets and attitudes, I think these protests will soon die out: when 20-20 cricket is actually exploited of its full and splendid potential, I don't see too many cricketers sticking their necks out and condemning the 'belittling' of the game, as some of the game's elite contemptuously prefer to call it. The bottomline is, money talks. And 20-20 will bring in the money by the truckloads. Not without reason either. Who wouldn't pay to watch a game in which every time a bowler puts in all a whole lot of effort to run in 20 metres and bowl one lousy delivery, the batsman doesn't decide it's too docile a delivery to be done anything with other than left alone? Clearly, 20-20 is the way to go. 50-over games will soon be ancient history. And if all teams decide to bat even half as enterprisingly as the Australians did yesterday, then we've got no real reason to worry. Cheers people, it's party time!
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