As T20 has become established, I have
come to appreciate its positive points: the improved fielding standards, the
reinvention of spin, the importance of variety and creativity with bat and ball,
and the short-term entertainment value. So why, oh why, is there a need for
T10?
Over the past week, I’ve kept reading on
the BBC Sport pages of another batting record being broken. My excitement
aroused, I’d click for more details only to discover it related to this shockingly
short cricket variant being showcased in the dollar-rich UAE. It’s the second
year of the competition which looks like a bastardised version of the IPL, complete
with all the big names of biff-bash cricket, coloured pyjamas and dancing
girls.
The innovations have rolled on. Boundaries
have shrunk still further to a mere 60 metres and the Powerplay now comprises
almost half of an entire innings, the combination of which creates a big
problem for me with T10. What is the point of having fielders at all? Indeed,
what is the point of having bowlers?
Each innings seems too short for any
real drama to unfold; it’s turned into a pure six-fest. Therefore why not just
get people to pay and watch a giant, glittery bowling machine firing golden balls
at Chris Gayle, Alex Hales, Kieron Pollard et al? Spectators catching the missile
can unscrew it and check for a special prize. Faberge egg? A million rupee cheque?
Key to a Porsche Cayenne? Wow, I’m on a roll…! But all this has little to do
with cricket, which I suppose is the point of T10.
With the ECB promoting The Hundred from
2020, the global game is apparently abandoning the rule of six and going
decimal. But which format, if any, will take root and flourish? It was the ECB
which originally gave us T20 but I reckon the T10 League has stolen a march and
the 10x10 over format could be dead in the water. And what effect will it have
on T20? I can’t see both co-existing in a commercially sustainable way. And in
2024, watch out for my blog on the dubious merits of the fantastic new format
of 5v5…..
