Prepare for a feast of entertainment
WHILE all eyes are naturally on England’s bid to reclaim that precious little urn from the Australians this summer, there is a small matter of a worldwide tournament taking place on home soil, which has almost gone unnoticed.
Following the success of the inaugural competition in South Africa two years ago, the world’s biggest hitters come to the game’s spiritual home for the second ICC World Twenty20 competition this week – and it promises to provide a feast of entertainment. Amid three weeks of fast, hard-hitting action, cricketing showboating, such as switch-hits and reverse sweeps, are commonplace, while the glitz and glamour that comes with Twenty20 never fails to get crowds on their feet.
BIG-SLOGGING STARS
Hosts England set the ball rolling with an opening encounter with the Netherlands at Lord’s on Friday, but I really can’t see Paul Collingwood’s men in the mix in the latter stages.
Largely down our lack of participation in the Indian Premier League, we fall quite a way short of our sub-continent rivals when it comes to Twenty20 cricket, and our catch-up process needs a lot more time, at least until our own two-tier version of the IPL gets underway next summer.
The beauty of Twenty20 cricket is that it takes just one moment of sheer genius, with bat or ball, to turn a game, and you would look no further than defending champions India to field the most potential match-winners. South Africa have also adapted to the 20-over game well, while whoever comes out of the ‘Group of Death’ involving Sri Lanka, Australia and West Indies will fancy their chances.
With the Ashes the No1 target and not much expected of England anyway, the pressure may be off just a touch. But, with home advantage, who knows, and if our lesser-known, big-slogging stars such as Graham Napier and Eoin Morgan can rediscover their blistering county form, then there could yet be reason to cheer.
Let the games begin.