Friday 12 June 2009

I’ve been converted to…Twenty20 cricket?


Not being the biggest fan of cricket is an understatement and the only time I find myself watching the sport is either a) there’s nothing else on, b) the football season is finished or c) university work requires me to do so, but since the Twenty20 World Cup as started - as I can imagine is the case with others - I have found myself hooked to the sport.

I have always been under the assumption that cricket is a dull, dragged out sport for unfit athletes that couldn’t make it into any other sports team as a child, and the majority of cricket I have witnessed in my time would back this up, bar The Ashes of course.

Many of my friends are regular cricket followers and always go on about the excitement and action involved, with my mind often wondering elsewhere during conversations, but now it seems there is a style of the sport which can sustain my interest throughout. I have always been aware of Twenty20 cricket, but never really took the time to actually sit and experience the latest phenomenon for myself.

My new found interest has blossomed into a minor summer crush, which I now regularly follow on a day to day basis. Having already admitting I’m not the biggest cricket fan, although not a hater of the sport, I feel this bite sized game is a suitable substitute for non cricket lovers and could help attract new fans to the sport.

Just a mere 20 overs per team adds tension and pressure with every ball bowled, making the impact of scoring runs more dramatic and more significant. Pakistan’s Misbah ul Haq’s showboating strike against Sri Lanka was no different to a Steven Gerrard 40 yard strike, both superb.

As much as I hate to admit it, I have now been converted to the game of Twenty20 and might even give the normal game a chance…on second thoughts lets just take it one day at a time.

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