Cricket: Fired up for Twenty20 competition

The big bash is on. The first domestic Twenty20 competition begins on Friday with matches in Christchurch and Wellington.

The truncated game has proven a huge hit in England and South Africa as crowds have lap up the quick-fire evening format.

The format has been credited with reawakening the interest of English boys in cricket, long before the febrile Ashes triumph.

The first Twenty20 international in New Zealand last year saw 29,317 spectators turn up to watch a retro-inspired New Zealand - resplendent in beige - take on Australia.

Australia has just launched its own domestic competition with 'innovations' like players having their nicknames across the back of their shirts.

A feasibility study is at an advanced stage looking into the possibility of a global Twenty20 competition. The International Cricket Council is looking into the possibility of staging a global tournament, probably in England, as early as 2007. It is hoped the format might appeal to markets in places like the USA and Twenty20 might be a user-friendly format for events like the Commonwealth Games.

However it was the success of the game at county level that prompted New Zealand Cricket to trial a domestic competition. It hasn't locked itself into a commitment to continue the trial beyond this year, and has spent only a fraction of the marketing money that helped launch the county competition with such a roar.

However there remains a strong hope the concept will work well here. There is a general feeling among cricket punters that the one-day format is overused and tired and the new powerplay and supersub rules have done nothing but confused fans and alienated them further.

The rules are simple. Each team has 20 overs to bat and the fielding restrictions are limited to the first six overs. The matches are over in three-and-a-half hours.

There's nothing subtle about the game but that's its beauty.

The six first-class sides have been divided into two pools with the winner of each pool meeting in the final on February 5.


13 January: Canterbury vs Otago (Hagley Oval, Christchurch); Wellington vs Northern Districts (Basin Reserve, Wellington).
20 January: Northern Districts vs Auckland (Westpac Park, Hamilton).
22 January: Central Districts vs Canterbury (McLean Park, Napier).
27 January: Otago vs Central Districts (University Oval, Dunedin).
29 January: Auckland vs Wellington (Eden Park Outer Oval, Akld).
5 February: Final.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY