Sanjay Jha's 25 X 4 format!

[Doink]

I watched the highlights of the Pakistani-2020 cup and found it quite entertaining even though I wasnt familiar with most of the players. I wonder when the BCCI will wake up to this game! Earlier there were some talks of a 'Corporate Cricket' tournament but it nver took off...Anyways I really dont think something like Twenty20 can keep me glued to the TV set for long. But I liked Sanjay Jha's concept of a new format. Jha is the editor of CricketNext.com and he has come out with the 25x4 format! Very interesting! Have a look @ http://www.cricketnext.com/features1...njayjha142.htm

[Occasional Fan]

Thanks for that, Doink. It will be interesting to see how the ICC reacts - if you see their reaction anywhere, do please post it. As long as the flow of the game can be maintained - i.e. breaks between innings can be kept short - I can't see an obvious objection and some of the advantages laid out in the article are worthy of consideration.

Welcome to the board, incidentally: I see you've been a busy poster over the last couple of days.

[vvvrulz]

Very interesting read, but I for one doubt this new system, as well as the 20-20 format. Both of them look like a circus to me, and I am one of the few who has absolutely no problems with the current 50 over format. Its worked for thirty years plus, and there is no reason why it shouldnt continue to do so.

Sure lately the game is leaning more towards batsman, but to me, this is also partly due to a lack of genuine class bowlers. But they will come with time, and the ratio will shift.

[Zainub]

Unfortunately I can't seem to access that link for some reason. My broswers says the page might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. May be its just my internet connection. I'll try again after a while.

In any case, I don't understand for once why people view 20Twenty cricket as a threat to the existing one-day game. I always view it as a substitue to the one-day game. Much like the role internet has in modern day entertainment, it hasn't taken over from tv or radio, but rather just substituted it.

[Occasional Fan]

Zainub - I think you mean "complemented" rather than "substituted", don't you?

Also, I just checked the link. It seems to work for me, so keep trying - you'll get it in the end.

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Zainub - I think you mean "complemented" rather than "substituted", don't you?

Also, I just checked the link. It seems to work for me, so keep trying - you'll get it in the end.

Yes I did OF. Unfortunately, sometimes the after/side affects of using a really bad and slow internet connection become all too obvious. Neverthess, the link finally worked, but not in netscape, I copied and pasted the link in IE, and there it went ok, but not before after a couples of seconds of relentless clicks on the refresh button. Anyway, I'm not that fascinted by the idea of 25x4. I know people who will find this tricky to understand (I'm not saying it is complicated, but there are a lot of people I can think of who will nevertheless find this confusing). Secondly I'm not in favor also of imposing any restrictions on selection. Thirdly, this will probably result in a lot of stop start stop start cricket, which might bore public. At present , the writer argues people find overs 15-40 boring (I don't for once), on that basis, it is arguable why people will not find the whole set of first two innings boring - what if people only turn up/tune into watch only the last two innings, after all, the last two innings, would be, I will argue, the buisness end of the match. Secondly, I'm a big fan of 20Twenty, so I'm clearly not impressed by his relentless and unjustified critcism of 20Twenty. If the writer had actually bothered to see a game of 20Twenty he would have known that it is far from being anything close to "bizarre pyjama-party being played by a bunch of over-zealous professionals" that "ridicules the great game of cricket giving it a farcical complexion". 50 overs cricket is here to stay, as is 20 overs cricket. Both will go along side by side. What present day ODIs need is just some fine tuning - not massive overhauling as Mr. Jha suggests. That's my two penny's worth on this.

[Doink]

Am surprised you guys didnt find the 25X4 format interesting...I like watching Twenty20 as well but I am sure I'll get over it soon. I find the 25X4 format having more potential. I dunno whether they would like to try it or not but I'm sure that if they did, it would go down very well with the fans.

[Zainub]

Everyone's entitled to their own opinions Doink. Nevertheless, please accept a belated welcome message to the board. We hope your stay here is long and productive.

[Doink]

Yes ofcourse everyone is! I liked the 25X4 format pretty interesting and was just a bit surprised that most of you guys weren't...!!! Thanks dude!

[vvvrulz]

There was a similar thing going on in NZ, called cricket max.

It was set up by Martin Crowe and went 10 overs per innings, four innings, much like the 25x4 format.
However it sank to the bottom after four/five years, and now has perished altogether.

I never did like the thought of batsmen getting out there twice in the same fifty overs.