Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting (right) grabs the moustache of his New Zealand counterpart Stephen Fleming alongside Hamish Marshall (left) and Mathew Sinclair. Photo / Kenny Rodger
Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting (right) grabs the moustache of his New Zealand counterpart Stephen Fleming alongside Hamish Marshall (left) and Mathew Sinclair. Photo / Kenny Rodger
The Black Caps and Australia face off in a Twenty20 match at Eden Park tonight - the first time they've clashed at the ground in the shorter format since the first ever T20 in 2005.
Here's how the Herald's David Leggat viewed the game back on February 18, 2005.
A few seasons back, a television commentator at a Cricket Max game actually said: "And that's the end of a good over from Smith. It only cost him 16 runs.''
The above is not a misprint. Because the Martin Crowe-inspired Max was a short form of the game, with odd rules and extra runs available when the ball was hit to certain parts of the ground, that was what happened.
It sounded dead-set weird, but Max could be like that.
When Twenty20 made its international debut at Eden Park on Thursday night, Australian captain Ricky Ponting pummelled the final over of New Zealand's best fast bowler, Daryl Tuffey, like this: 6, 2, 6, 6, 4, 6.
Thirty off six balls, with no funny run rigging.
And the 30,000 who turned up to see this flash new version of the old game which has drawn bumper crowds in England and Australia loved it.
Cricket fans enjoy the beige theme at the first ever Twenty20 international. Photo / Kenny Rodger
There were compelling reasons so many trundled along. The opposition, for starters, and the curiosity aspect were chief among them.
Would that many turn up to watch, say, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in three years' time? Mmmm.
But you can't fault the entertainment value provided by the knockabout night out.
Call it hamburger cricket. It fills a void, looks to be highly popular but - without wanting to sound all hoity-toity about this - it is junk cricket in the pure sense. Bacon, double cheese thanks, lettuce, tomato and hold the mayo.
That's not to take away its basic appeal. The older generation won't have been impressed, but that's not who Twenty20 is pitched at.
At Eden Park the idea was to watch some of the sport's finest in a different setting, where smiles were more visible than scowls from the players and it achieved the aim of having spectators driving home reflecting on a good night out.
The New Zealand players entered the spirit of the beige more than Australia, with the notable exception of fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz, who did a passable impersonation of the headband-wearing, moustachioed Dennis Lillee in full wicket-taking celebratory leap.
Hamish Marshall will NEVER live down his Afro throwback. He looked like an extra from the musical Hair, until he squashed it down with his batting helmet - at which point he turned into Crusty the Clown.
Craig McMillan looked like Ned Kelly's scruffier younger brother and Daniel Vettori's facial work could have earned him a living on a movie set as a card-shark cad in an Wild West saloon.
It was all good fun, which neatly disguised the fact that in the actual playing of the cricket, Australia dished out a suitably old-fashioned kicking.
I'd bet captain Ponting told his players beforehand that, all japes aside, it was essential to grab whatever psychological points were on offer before the more serious stuff starts at Wellington's Cake Tin today.
Ponting batted magnificently. He knows the peculiar angles of Eden Park and worked them to a tee. It is staggering to consider he made 98 in a tick over 18 overs. Talk about delivering a statement of intent.
Before the match all sorts of questions were in the air.
What would be a good score in a 20-over innings? One popular view is about 180. Australia made 214.
What would be the equivalent of a one-day 100? Ponting fell two runs short of delivering the perfect riposte, that a ton is a ton in anyone's language.
The Australian bowling was purposeful, the fielding sharp and professional. New Zealand were a bit of the pace all around.
Still they'll go on to the Cake Tin today reasoning they are in the hunt, but a feeling persists: Australia could win playing less than their best. New Zealand won't have that luxury in this series.
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