The Twenty20 Cup in England

[luckyeddie]

Match reports of both semi-finals both available now

Leicestershire v Warwickshire

Gloucestershire v Surrey

 

[marc71178]

Well done Surrey for winning.

 

[luckyeddie]

.... and the final :

Warwickshire v Surrey

Well done marc for forecasting the result after 5 overs.

 

[Rich2001]

Great effort there LE - All three reports and all up just mins after the match completed.

 

[Mr. P]

good effort surrey! i am starting to hope very much Twenty20 comes to Australia.

 

[Craig]

So how did you rate Twenty20? Would of called it a success? Obviosuly i dont live in England, so I wouldnt of seen it.

 

[Mr. P]

twenty20 has to come to australia! pleaseeeeeeee!!

 

[luckyeddie]

So how did you rate Twenty20? Would of called it a success? Obviosuly i dont live in England, so I wouldnt of seen it.

It's been a great success, I believe.

The gates have been well above expectations (one of the group games attracted over 15,000), the kids have come to the games, ice-cream sales have been through the roof and there's been some Corky problems.

What more can anyone want?

<quack> cricket

Thanks, DD. There's been some cricket as well.

 

[marc71178]

Well done marc for forecasting the result after 5 overs.

It was hard not to!

The only thing that confused me was the scheduling - Warwickshire and Leicestershire finished at 6.30 or so on Friday night, whereas Surrey had no cricket scheduled for that day and Gloucester finished early.

Why then did those 2 have play first? Apparently it was drawn for the other game to go first, but they switched (something to do with trains from London) - bit bizarre one.

Then of course came the problem that having got there at 9.30am, they played, won and had to hang around all day (about 6 hours) for the next game.

I know one team will always have to do that, but why such a long gap between games?

 

[luckyeddie]

It was hard not to!

<snip>

I know one team will always have to do that, but why such a long gap between games?

True.

I think the fact that Leicestershire and Warwickshire had very little travelling time to get to Trent Bridge meant that the logical thing would be to put them on first.

The gap between the semis and the final taking place was so that Atomic Kitten could strut their funky stuff. When the Twenty20 was inaugurated, I doubt the authorities were confident that it would be such a success. Consequently, they booked a pop concert in an effort to get the kids there (or maybe it really WAS for Mark Butcher's benefit).

Incidentally, Surrey were the only team who failed to sell their full allocation of tickets. I could have got one right up until the last moment but I realised you guys needed match reports pronto. :saint:

 

[Mr. P]

<sniff> you did that for us?

 

[marc71178]

I think the fact that Leicestershire and Warwickshire had very little travelling time to get to Trent Bridge meant that the logical thing would be to put them on first.

Logical until you see where they were playing the day before (South of London!)

 

[Langeveldt]

Thought it was brilliant, although i wish they would remove the "tacky" image and just let people watch 20 over cricket for god sake...

 

[Mr. P]

hows it tacky?

 

[luckyeddie]

Logical until you see where they were playing the day before (South of London!)

I was referring to the spectators/supporters.

Incidentally, Surrey only sold about a third of their allocation of tickets. The 'North of Watford' syndrome, perhaps?

 

[Neil Pickup]

That explains the lack of opposition to the "if you all hate Surrey, clap your hands" chant, then

 

[Rik]

hows it tacky?

Trying to turn it into a combination of Baseball and a fairground...

 

[Craig]

I remember reading that some Counties were trying to promote it as '***y cricket' with cheerleaders and pictures of half naked players :O :O

 

[luckyeddie]

Trying to turn it into a combination of Baseball and a fairground...

I don't get the baseball reference at all.

The odd bouncy castle? Not a problem with me.

The beauty of the 20 over game is it's perfect as an introduction to the game as far as kids go - short attention spans and so zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[Mr. P]

hardly get chance to sleep.
its all, bang, bang, bang, first innings over.
then, bang, bang, bang, match done.