Twenty20 May be the End of One-day Cricket

THE Big Bash is the greatest entertainment to hit cricket since, well, one-day internationals in the 1970s.
The days when coloured clothing and light towers lit up the night, when queues snaked for literally miles outside the MCG and SCG, and when fences were pulled down at the WACA because the "sold out" signs had gone up.

When microphones bashed out songs between overs, and canny canines and pop stars weaved their magic at the intervals.

Same game, same popularity, same gimmicks, same television ratings to drool over, same queues and public adoration.

The only difference is the Big Bash goes for 40 overs and is completed within four hours, a much faster and more frenzied version of the 50 overs a side format that provided Kerry Packer with day and night live television content.
Interesting then, that fans and the cricketers are suggesting that of the three formats of the game to take a backseat, the first in line is the 50 over games.

Three decades of the same smash and grab has worn thin (or perhaps too long).

The constants of the game are Tests and the Sheffield Shield, the backbone of this nation's cricket that defy time, change, wavering public opinion.

So it is interesting to note that Mike McKenna, a marketing guru whose sporting background is six years at the Essendon Football Club before joining Cricket Australia in April of 2005, has a mandate to determine the future of the Big Bash in Australia.

CA chief executive James Sutherland has handed him a blank piece of paper and asked him to be ambitious to find a specific and separate space in the cluttered Australian cricket calendar for the Twenty20 Big Bash.

Grey hairs have blossomed on many foreheads of cricket officials since, mainly because the mandate involved being "customer driven".

In other words, what do the fans want? The answer, from considerable research that surprised nobody, is the majority want to watch cricket during the December-January holiday period.

Similar thinking in the late 1970s resulted in one-day cricket taking over many traditional dates, including the Australia Day weekend Test in Adelaide.

Today fans and players alike believe one-day games should be the first format to be down-graded.

While McKenna and his committee ponder what can be achieved to best suit the fans (including television viewers), the blank piece of paper has been screwed up many times.

Would anyone dare to suggest that Melbourne's Boxing Day Test, or the New Year Test in Sydney, be shunted aside to make way for the Big Bash?

Cricket Australia's Peter Young said McKenna had a difficult assignment because his challenge was to avoid making a decision on what is most convenient to CA and to come up with the best scenario according to customer research.

"All things being equal, the way we would prefer to do it is play the Big Bash during the December-January period when people are on holidays," Young said.

"Whether that is achievable is problematic."

The Big Bash is here to stay, and it will become an integral part of the summer, especially with eight and possibly 10 teams in the helter-skelter format. It is a hit already, attracting massive television audiences and huge crowds.

However, while it would be easy for McKenna to say the new phenomenon should suddenly take centre stage at the expense of Test cricket, he must consider equally the traditions of the game.

The wheel turns. Test cricket is vibrant in this nation, and the December-January period is the peak viewing period.

If Tests are not played then, who would be able to attend to support the traditions of the game?

Especially when they cannot be played at night, when more would attend, because of an inability to unearth an acceptable ball.

Whereas, one suggests, the Big Bash will be popular, overwhelmingly attended and a focal point of television viewers whenever it is played.

T20 format has helped Test cricket: Afridi

KARACHI: Contrary to Mohammed Yousuf's assumption that T20 cricket would eventually destroy Test cricket, Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi says it has actually made the five-day games more result-oriented.

Test skipper Yousuf feels that batsmen these days are paying more attention to adjust to the slam-bang format and hardly care to develop technique, which is essential to be successful in Test cricket.

However, T20 skipper Afridi differs with Yousuf. "I don't think that will happen because Test and ODIs both have their own charm. Infact I would say T20 cricket has introduced a more positive attitude in players and led to Tests also being played more aggressively and being more result oriented," Afridi said.

"What we need to do is strike the right balance in our teams for all three formats of the sport," he added.

Afridi advocated the need to develop the national teams according to the abilities of the players.

"Already we have certain players who are Test specialists including Yousuf himself, then they are players who are specialists for the limited overs cricket and in the third category they are players who are adjust in all three forms of the sport.

"It would not be a bad idea if we can build our Test, ODI and T20 teams according to this policy. We need to groom and develop our players accordingly," Afridi said.

Afridi, who was dropped for the Test series against Australia, said he was always available for his country and if the team management or selectors asked him to join the team for the Tests he would not hesitate to join.

"I would be willing to sacrifice my contract with South Australia if the team needed by services in the Test matches," said Afridi who had announced that he wants to concentrate on ODIs and T20 cricket until the 2011 World Cup.

Afridi said he still believed that Pakistan could beat Australia in the remaining two Tests if the batsmen perform well.

"We should take heart and play the last two Tests with more vigor and focus," he said.

T20 Triumph Fails to Illuminate Year of Cricketing Gloom

The year 2009 was nothing short of a nightmare for Pakistan cricket. Apart from victory in the World Twenty20 Championship in England and the salient on-field performance of Aleem Dar, who was declared ICC’s umpire of the year, 2009 presented a bleak scenario and was replete with unfortunate incidents and controversies.

While Pakistan were placed fifth in the ICC rankings — both in Tests and ODIs — it finished the year being at sixth with no immediate hopes of improvement.

In stark comparison, arch-rivals India began the year at number three in the international rankings of the two versions of the game, but finished as the leaders in Tests and were an impressive second in the ODIs.

Pakistan ended 2009 on a dismal note, losing the Melbourne Test against Australia by a heavy margin of 170 runs.

While Pakistan failed to win any One-day International event or Test series, as many as four captains led the national team during the year which shows the inconsistency of the board administration in this vital area of the game.

But the worst incident of the year, and possibly in the history of the game, was the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team in Lahore on March 3.

The harrowing incident not only tarnished the image of Pakistan cricket beyond repair, it was also the last straw in destroying the prospects of international cricket in Pakistan.

The ghastly incident prompted the already apprehensive cricket-playing nations across the globe to cancel all scheduled assignments in Pakistan and to withdraw from their commitments in sports events also for an indefinite period.

However, the emergence of dashing Umar Akmal as middle-order batsman and sensational paceman Mohammad Aamir are definitely among the rare highs that Pakistan cricket experienced in 2009.

India, cheesed off at the Nov 8 attacks in Mumbai, cancelled the scheduled tour of Pakistan in Jan-Feb due to the strained political relations with Pakistan.

It not only deprived Pakistan of revenue in billions of rupees, but also deprived the cricket-mad fans in the country of some high-profile, competitive cricket.

Pakistan played nine Tests in 2009, losing four and winning only one. It lost two Tests to Sri Lanka, one to New Zealand and the last against the Aussies at Melbourne last week.

Sri Lanka won the first leg of ODIs 2-1, after losing the first at Karachi which included a mind-boggling 234-run crushing win in the series decider at Lahore, which triggered the replacement of Shoaib Malik as captain with Younis Khan.

The Islanders then revisited in Feb to play two Test matches. After the first Test ended as a high-scoring draw in Karachi, the second one at Lahore created history when a bunch of terrorists attacked the visitors bus at Liberty Chowk while it was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium.

Seven Sri Lankan players were injured while eight policemen, guarding the players, were killed on the spot.

As the fans and media watched the the incident in horror and disbelief, the hapless Sri Lankans departed for home with dark clouds hovering over the future of international cricket in Pakistan.

The incident literally rocked the country and took away all kinds of sports events scheduled in Pakistan for an indefinite period.

Pakistan suddenly was the pariah of cricket and was deprived of its share of 14 matches of the World Cup 2011 that were to be staged here.

Not only were the matches removed, they were arbitrarily distributed to India and Sri Lanka by an enraged ICC. Even the World Cup Secretariat, which was to be originally set up in Lahore, was taken away abruptly.

But with so much damage caused by the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankans in Lahore, it was ‘amazing’ that neither the PCB nor the government took any major action against the officials responsible for the “unpardonable” security lapse.

In fact, Wasim Bari, the then human resources director, who was

responsible for coordinating security matters with the senior govt officials along with Director Cricket Operations Zakir Khan, was elevated to the post of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The PCB did, however, protest the snatching of the World Cup matches at the ICC meeting and managed to pull off around 14 million dollars in compensation for the deprivation after serving a legal notice to the international body for stripping its rights of hosting the World Cup.

Almost one week after the heartbreaking incident, the PCB was ready to send its national team to Bangladesh for a three-match ODI series without really confirming the security situation there. However, the aftermath of Sri Lankan attack saw Bangladesh refusing to host Pakistan for the series.

Pakistan were then forced to host the ODI and T20 home series against Australia at the neutral venues of Abu Dhabi and Dubai but lost the five-ODI series 2-3 before winning both T20 games.

The only real high point of Pakistan cricket arrived when the team went to England for the T20 World Cup as absolute underdogs and stunned the world by lifting the trophy.

The victory not only resurrected Pakistan’s image to a great extent, it sent the emotionally-scarred nation into a frenzy.

It was the first hugely positive news for the people of this war-torn country who had only experienced blood and gore, deadly bomb blasts, displacements and economic crisis over the past few years.

As a well-knit Pakistan under the able leadership of Younis Khan tamed Sri Lanka in the final by eight wickets, millions danced in the streets and chanted slogans against the terrorists, vowing to defeat all odds for a better Pakistan.

However, the massive impact created by the exuberant Pakistan team in England faded rather quickly.

Pakistan were outclassed in every department of the game by Sri Lanka in their own backyard and they won the three Test series 2-0 only to follow it up with a 3-2 ODI series win.

Pakistan’s next big assignment was the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa. They had an average run in the mega event but their meek submission to a lowly-rated New Zealand in the semis again sparked a big controversy.

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Sports Chairman Jamshed Dasti soon afterwards issued a statement, alleging the players were involved in match-fixing during the event.

The NA body subsequently summoned PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt, Coach Intikhab Alam, Manager Yawar Saeed and Captain Younis Khan for a grilling session on the debacle in Champions Trophy.

Younis, cheesed off at the allegations hurled at his side, chose the NA session to tender his resignation from captaincy that stunned everyone involved.

Later, Younis agreed to return as skipper on his own terms and the PCB eventually relented. Controversial manager Yawar Saeed lost his post as manager while associate manager Shafqat Rana was also shown the door. The PCB chairman named Younis as captain till the 2011 World Cup, subject to fitness.

As things unfolded, Pakistan lost the ODI series 2-1 to New Zealand in Abu Dhabi amid rumours of a rebellion against Younis the skipper.

Visibly perturbed by the reports of groupings against him, Younis requested the PCB chairman for a break from the three-Test series against New Zealand.

Accepting it quickly, the chairman appointed Mohammad Yousuf as the third captain of the year after Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan.

A new-look Pakistan side overcame initial hiccups in New Zealand before finding its feet to level the three-match series 1-1, thanks to a magnificent comeback of dope-tainted Mohammad Asif to international cricket.

On the management side, National Cricket Academy Director Aamir Sohail tendered his resignation, citing interference in work, a similar argument was put forward by Abdul Qadir and Javed Miandad in their resignations as chief selector and diretor general, respectively.

Saleem Altaf was the fourth among Ijaz Butt’s hand-picked Test cricketers who was shown the door when the Governing Board acceded to the chairman’s desire to remove Altaf as COO.

The Governing Board failed to assert itself on many issues, including the ad hoc appointment of Financial Officer Mohammad Naeem, a close relative of Ijaz Butt.