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We knew what the plans were back |
We knew what the plans were back
The times they are a-changing. It may now be possible to write a nostalgic piece about T20 cricket. Perhaps we should alert Radio 4’s Sue MacGregor to the notion of reliving the creation of T20 back at the start of the century on The Reunion.
On the evening of Friday 13 June, 2003, the competition was launched around the counties. I was at Taunton along with more than five thousand others to watch Somerset play Warwickshire (cue soundtrack of Mary Hopkin in full flow remembering how we laughed away the hours Authentic Korbinian Holzer Jersey and dreamed of all the great things we would do).
When Somerset were batting, chasing 189 for victory, I went down to the Warwickshire dugout to chat to their coach, John Inverarity. He is the Australian who padded up to the last ball of the 1968 Oval Test match at about the same time as Mary Hopkin was adorning Top of the Pops. Inverarity was, and still is, one of the great thinkers about the game, the nearest equivalent to Mike Brearley among Australian cricketers, and I was intrigued to discover what he thought about this new format.
Of course I never found out there and then. There was no time for such discussion. Inverarity is the most civilised of men, a former head teacher and stimulating company, but he had other things on his mind. There was a game of cricket to be won and that was what he was concentrating on. He winced; he even swore Oliver Kylington Jersey when http://www.officialdallasstars.com/Adidas-John-Klingberg-Jersey a catch went down or a misfield was committed and this most decorous of Aussies may even have punched the air when a wicket fell. This was not “hit and giggle” which was how David Lloyd always used to describe T20. It was a proper contest, albeit an unusually short one.
This was when it became apparent to me that this brash new format might work. Even more important than the coaches desperately wanting to win was the fact the players did as well. They did not want to be ridiculed by all those packed into the stands and they understandably relished playing in front of a proper crowd. It was not the face painting or the DJs that made T20 work; it was the cricket and the contest.
Back in 2002 there had, of course, been much debate about the wisdom of this new-fangled competition. The counties voted – and on this http://www.authenticmapleleafsshops.com/authentic-40-garret-sparks-jersey.html occasion it was a “free” vote since I have no recall of a guaranteed £1.3m per annum for those ready to agree with the ECB – and the margin in favour Antti Raanta Youth jersey of T20 was slim, 11-7 with Middlesex, Sussex, Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Somerset, Glamorgan and Northamptonshire voting against.
No expense had been spared and very few details overlooked by the England and Wales Cricket Board in their efforts to sell this new idea. The press were taken off to Spain for a two-day seminar about several aspects of the game but the crunch for the ECB was selling T20. This was all superbly organised and minutely http://www.nflcardinalsofficialstore.com/YOUTH+CHAD+WILLIAMS+JERSEY planned.
We knew what the plans were back in 2002. This time we know that the scoreboard is Ramon Humber Jersey going to be simplified, apparently so that women and children can understand what is going on, but we have no idea how the tournament will be accommodated into the fixture list. What will happen to the unfortunates who are not required by the eight new teams? They could be playing 50-over cricket, T20 among the counties, Championship cricket in two divisions or in a conference system. A working party under Wasim Khan has just been set up to ponder all this. All we know is that the new tournament must happen because the ECB has sold those rights to the broadcasters. cheap jerseys free shipping cheap jerseys wholesale nfl jerseys cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys china cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys from china
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