The True Nature of Twenty20 Cricket is Revealed

Tuesday, 9th June 2009

First things first: congratulations to Ireland and the Netherlands for enlivening the World Twenty20 Cup. Secondly, well-done Australia who now have an extra couple of weeks to prepare for the Ashes. Typically, England flattered us with their cunning in their opening fixture only to let us down in their second.

Thirdly, I'm indebted to Pootergeek for drawing my attention to the fact that the tournament's organisers have endorsed my view of the essential nature of Twenty20 cricket: namely that like anything that is barbarous and, in some sense, grotesque it has a certain fascination but that, nonetheless, we are supposed to have evolved from this sort of thing en route to our present happy, civilised existence and that, consequently, Twenty20 must be seen as little more than a return to man's primitive state and the law of the jungle...

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mac

June 9th, 2009 7:16pm Report this comment

The next little step will be to get rid of the wickets, modify the shape of the bat, and put the players into knickerbockers. Then TV will have a game it can market in the USA . . .

Fergus Pickering

June 9th, 2009 7:41pm Report this comment

Twentytwenty is not AT ALL like baseball. I saw some baseball in Houston recently. Twentytwenty is MUCH more exciting. Did you see Chris Gayle? Come now, you must admit...

mac

June 9th, 2009 8:47pm Report this comment

Fergus,

Yes, I saw Chris Gayle. Explain to me how - exciting or not - clubbing sixes a la Gayle is not at all like Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth doing something remarkably similar?

Another question. That recent Houston sporting experience you mentioned: who paid?!

THX1138

June 9th, 2009 10:00pm Report this comment

Alex Thought you might like this from VF on Allen Stanford a must read.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/06/allen-stanford.html

Fergus Pickering

June 9th, 2009 11:14pm Report this comment

Nobody was clubbing anything in Houston. It was slow and tedious. Who paid what? My generous Texan host paid my entrance money and he also paid for the largest hot dogs I have ever seen. Baseball is a very complicated game whereas cricket (in all its forms)is essentially simple.