Twenty20 makes noisy debut
Post categories: International Cricket
| 16:40 UK time, Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Is the world ready for a Twenty20 world cup?
The local crowd certainly was at the Wanderers for the opening game of the ICC World Twenty20 between hosts South Africa and the West Indies.
The cacophony of noise was unlike anything I have ever heard at a cricket ground, save for an India v Pakistan ODI. The noise at those matches is largely generated by the crowd alone, however at Jo鈥檅urg we had a DJ booming out dance anthems at a volume that made you think you could be on a night out at the . There were even podium dancers to go with it, albeit quite unnecessarily, as the cricket was entertainment enough.
The opening 鈥淐elebration鈥, as it was called, matched the fast pace of Twenty20. It lasted a mere 20 minutes, which was a welcome relief to those of us who are not particular fans of the long, drawn-out opening ceremony with hours of dancing, subliminal messages and endless speeches.
Everyone at the ground seemed eager for the match to begin, and it did not disappoint when it did. Chris Gayle鈥檚 century included some of the biggest and cleanest hitting I have seen. He plundered one ball out of the Wanderers into the golf course behind. That is some distance - some have reported that hit went 101 metres...
The raucous packed-out crowd entered into the fun in the stadium, exchanging their tickets stubs for red plastic hard hats. It meant they all looked like grown up versions of Bob The Builder, but they would have been glad of the protection when Gayle began his onslaught. What a shame his team .
Jonathan Agnew, producer Adam Mountford and I are now in Cape Town. The South African team flew in with us, travelling economy and mixing with all the passengers.
Captain Graeme Smith was nursing his sore right hand after being struck with the very first ball of the innings. It was wrapped in a bandage, nothing more, which is good from his point of view as it obviously is not a break, but while he was able to use it to lift his bag from the luggage compartment, it looked extremely swollen and he is still in pain due to bruising.
I was lucky enough to be at the at the Sandton Convention Centre. Looking around the room, it struck me that it must be quite an occasion for a number of players at this tournament who have never played at a major World event before. Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright is at the beginning of his international career and looked eager to drink it all in.
It was just as special to reacquaint ourselves with so many former internationals who attended the evening. The great left-hander Graeme Pollock, held in such affection in South Africa, presented an award. He was asked on stage where he rated the various forms of cricket these days. He replied that Test cricket would always be his number one; he enjoyed One Day Internationals; but he was still getting used to Twenty20.
Not one for the organisers, but if the following two weeks prove to be a success, perhaps he will find T20 has its own place in the spectrum as well.
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