KEY POINTS:
The purists will shudder, the aged will reach for the heart pills, but the rise of cricket's shortest game continued yesterday with the confirmation of a dedicated two-week window for the men's domestic Twenty20 competition next season.
This follows on from last season when the games were played on 10 days over a 24-day period, interspersed with State Shield one-dayers. This time, the one-day series takes a break as the chicken mcnugget of cricket formats takes centre stage. The single round robin format starts on January 17, culminating in a final on February 3. The games have afternoon and early evening starts.
"We are very excited about the prospects for the Twenty20 competition," New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said yesterday. "We experienced significant growth in this exciting form of cricket last year and are expecting big things for the upcoming season."
There is a new women's Twenty20 competition, with games the day before each two-day State League game. New Zealand, after the inaugural world Twenty20 championship in South Africa in September, have four internationals pencilled in - against South Africa on their tour of the republic in November; Australia, preceding the Chappell Hadlee series in Perth in December; and two against England in February. The four-day men's championship starts on November 12, with the final on April 7-11. The shield series starts on December 29.
