Twenty 20 Blog

Yuvraj Singh’s exploits in the Twenty20 format have grabbed the attention of the New South Wales Blues.

According to a top NSW player, the management is likely to get in touch with Yuvraj and see if they can use the southpaw’s power-hitting in the domestic Twenty20 tournament, which runs from December 28, 2009 to January 23, 2010.

“He’s a great player, and he’s been magnificent in conditions across the world, so if we can get him, it’ll give us a great chance at the title,” said the cricketer.

NSW are the 2008-09 Big Bash champions, and are currently in India for the Champions League Twenty20. The team already boasts of Australian internationals Simon Katich, David Warner and Phillip Hughes at the top of the order. When not on national duty, Michael Clarke and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin bolster the middle-order. A full-strength bowling line-up would feature stalwarts like Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Nathan Hauritz and the up-and-coming pace sensation, Doug Bollinger. A recent addition to that list is Australia’s current No.1 all-rounder, Shane Watson, who has moved to NSW from Queensland.

But ten of their 36-member squad for the season are bound by Cricket Australia contracts. This is the reason why the Blues have earlier expressed interest in signing Pakistan’s star all-rounder Shahid Afridi and Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara. Either of those players, combined with Yuvraj, would give the Sydney-based team a boost in a bid to retain their title, since most of NSW’s first XI will be in contention for berths in the Australian side, which hosts West Indies and Pakistan between November and February.

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THE much-anticipated Twenty20 Champions League kicks off in India this week, with Victoria taking on the Delhi Daredevils in the first round. For those of you who have not grasped this concept, the champions league is the pinnacle of domestic cricket on a world scale.

The grand finalists from the Australian Big Bash, NSW and Victoria, have earned the right to compete against the best 10 teams from the main cricketing nations for prizemoney of $6.82 million.

Victoria has a great chance to be crowned the champion, but would have a much better chance if its best Twenty20 bowler was playing. Well he is, but sadly for the opposition.

Dirk Nannes’ remarkable journey over the past 12 months has seen him play for two first-class teams in two countries - IPL with the Delhi Daredevils and occasionally for Melbourne club side Fitzroy-Doncaster.

Nannes will now turn out for the Delhi Daredevils and open the bowling against his Victorian teammates next week. What a disaster. How could this happen? Why is it allowed? All these questions have been posed by his Victorian teammates over recent weeks and many of them are seething about it. Victoria’s best chance of winning is with Nannes on board as opposed to hurling thunderbolts at them.

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Andrew Symonds could make a move to neighbouring New Zealand, with Auckland cricket officials interested in signing the troubled all-rounder.

Symonds has lost his Australian central contract after a number of off-field incidents, and now Auckland cricket want him to play for them in their Twenty20 competition.

The two-time World Cup winner would not be available for the entire month-long New Zealand competition, which kicks off in January, because he is due to turn out for Queensland in their Twenty20 Big Bash.

However, with the Australian competition only lasting over five rounds he could feature for Auckland towards the end of January.

Northern Districts have already signed big-hitting Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan for the Twenty20s, while Wellington have secured England international Owais Shah as the provinces look to bolster their chances of reaching next year’s Champions League.

Otago move

Otago, who will represent New Zealand at this month’s lucrative Champions League after winning the domestic

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While understandably keen to avoid propping up the Sheffield Shield table for back-to-back seasons, NSW have three million reasons to work on their Twenty20 game.

The Blues, winners of the domestic Twenty20 competition last season, and runners-up Victoria, will represent Australia in the 12-team T20 Champions League from October 8 to 23.

It’s not surprising both state teams are enthusiastic about the event, which features a staggering first prize of $US2.5 million ($A3.0 million).

The inaugural T20 Champions League was scheduled to begin last year but was postponed following terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Cricket NSW chief executive David Gilbert says the Blues are satisfied that Cricket Australia is taking all the normal safety precautions ahead of a tour.

“We’re comfortable with where things are at,” Gilbert told AAP on Thursday.

“It’s huge. The first prize is $US2.5 million, runner-up is $US1.3 million.

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Andrew Flintoff is in talks to play Twenty20 cricket in Australia’s KFC Big Bash series next winter.

The all-rounder, who announced he is quitting Test matches after the Ashes series to save his body from further wear and tear, is set to be a gun for hire.

He has lined up a move to play for the Queensland Bulls this winter and talks are understood to be at an advanced stage.

Flintoff will play in the oneday series for England against South Africa, then go to Australia before joining Chennai Super Kings for their Indian Premier League campaign.

Freddie has connections with Queensland through friend and Super Kings team-mate Matthew Hayden as well as former Lancashire colleague Stuart Law. And while England slug it out with South Africa in a four-Test series that runs deep into January, Flintoff could be picking up another big cheque for a few weeks work in the Brisbane sun.

The Australian domestic Twenty20 competition, known as the KFC Big Bash, is attracting the world’s biggest names and Flintoff’s presence will add more star quality.

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Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga will play for Tasmania in this summer’s domestic Twenty20 competition.

He’s the third major international signing for the competition after West Indian stars Chris Gayle (Western Australia) and Dwayne Bravo (Victoria) agreed to play.

Tigers coach Tim Coyle says Malinga is one of a few bowlers who can dominate Twenty20 cricket regularly with the ball.

Each state was been allocated $50,000 from Cricket Australia to help attract an overseas star to raise the competition’s profile.

Malinga, 25, bowls pace with a distinctive, explosive action attracting the sobriquet `Malinga the Slinger’.

He’s played 15 international Twenty20 matches and taken 19 wickets at an economy rate of 7.37, with best bowling figures of 3/11.

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Western Australia coach Tom Moody hopes the addition of West Indies captain Chris Gayle for this summer’s Twenty20 competition will help propel the Warriors to a lucrative Champions League berth.

But WA will have to achieve a top-two finish in Australia’s Big Bash tournament without the services of Adam Gilchrist, who declined an offer to rejoin his home State for one final fling.

The signing of Gayle, one of the biggest and cleanest hitters in the game, is a major coup for the Warriors.

In 12 Twenty20 internationals, the 29-year-old left-hander has plundered 454 runs at a phenomenal average of 41.27, while also snaring seven wickets at 27 apiece.

WA qualified for the Champions League in its inaugural year but the tournament, which features the best domestic teams from seven nations, was cancelled following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

The Warriors failed to quality last year as Victoria and NSW snared the two spots available for Australian teams.

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The proposed Southern Premier League involving teams based in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand looks increasingly unlikely to go ahead due to the crowded international calendar.

It had been hoped the Twenty20 tournament, which would involve the leading players from all three countries plus other international stars, would be held in October every year, starting from 2011.

But early discussions around the International Cricket Council’s post-2012 Future Tours Programme (FTP) has made the three countries realise that no natural window exists for the tournament.

“The problem that we’ve had is trying to find space. We all know that there is a lot of international cricket,” said New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan.

“We’ve got a lot of international cricket events like the World Twenty20. There’s the World Cup and then there is the Indian Premier League which takes place in April-May every year.”

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When cricket historians look back in years to come they may well decide that 2009 was the year that the Twenty20 format came of age. They will say this was the year when the unruly offspring joined the accepted family of cricket’s formats.

Perhaps not regarded as the ultimate test of a team’s ability, that will surely always be the five-match five-day Test series, but still a valid and recognised method of sorting out the cricketing men from the boys.

Why 2009? You may ask. Well two reasons. First the IPL was moved from its natural home in India due to security reasons for its second season prompting a multitude of questions.

Could the organisers and the South Africans hosts put on the event at such short notice? Yes, they could. Would it be as exciting as the inaugural season? Yes. Would the passion of the crowds transfer to South Africa? Would the playing standards reach the same levels? Would the best in the world still be queuing up to appear? Yes, yes and yes.

But there was one important question that was answered no. Would it surpass and replace international cricket?

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The face of cricket, as it had been known to the pundits, has been almost irreversibly altered by a format of the game, which had been scoffed at to begin with as another one akin to the one found in a charity game, but has since then, been accepted by the majority. And what a turnaround it has been. Right from those times when the English cricket board introduced the Twenty20s to sway the crowds back into the stadiums to the BCCI rejecting the format and then reluctantly sending a team to the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20, followed by the glamour and the glitz of the IPL interspersed with the other controversial leagues in the ICL and the Stanford tournaments, Twenty20 has come a long way.

Not only has the general public’s interest at large, or the bank accounts of the players in particular been beefed up, but to play devil’s advocate – as a self-respecting lover of test cricket – there isn’t too much doubt that Twenty20s have assisted cricket in general.

From ‘test’ of patience to batting ferocities

Gone are the days when a dour-looking Geoffrey Boycott could prod and plonk his way to a century after playing through majority of the test match and then have Sunil Gavaskar return back the compliment and test the patience of both, the opposition bowling and the ground audiences to the hilt. Tons in only a

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