When T20 met Test cricket, and everyone wore shorts
Remember the time Dinesh Karthik took a wicket? Or when Aravinda de Silva played for Malaysia?
Deivarayan Muthu
13-Apr-2020
Could this version of beach cricket become the next big thing? • Getty Images
With still no live cricket in sight, we're digging deep into YouTube to keep ourselves entertained. This week in What We're Watching, we look at some offbeat forms of the game that never quite took off.
The T20-Test mash-up
Roger Twose once cracked an unbeaten 43 off seven balls. Impossible? Here, have a look at the scorecard. This was Super Max cricket, invented by the late, great Martin Crowe, and batsmen scored twice as many runs as in normal cricket if they hit the ball into the Max Zone down the ground.
Roger Twose once cracked an unbeaten 43 off seven balls. Impossible? Here, have a look at the scorecard. This was Super Max cricket, invented by the late, great Martin Crowe, and batsmen scored twice as many runs as in normal cricket if they hit the ball into the Max Zone down the ground.
That seven-ball sequence also included a free hit, off which Twose was caught at deep extra-cover. But the outfielder probably wasn't aware of the rule that a batsman can't be caught off a free hit, and takes an age to throw the ball back to Jimmy Adams, the bowler.
"I thought Martin Crowe went and explained the rules of this game to West Indies; he's had a whole-day seminar, but he's missed the most important rule," Ian Smith said on commentary. "Free hits mean exactly that, son!
In Super Max, each team played two innings of ten overs each - like T20 colliding with Test cricket, except Super Max preceded the birth of T20 by quite a distance.
The first Super Max game was played in February 1996, between the New Zealanders (Max Blacks) and an All-Stars XI. Here's some footage from that game, featuring the likes of Dean Jones and Heath Streak playing in shorts, with four stumps behind the batsman.
Sachin Tendulkar lit up a Super Max game in 2002, slamming 72 off 27 balls. As was often the case back then, across formats, his brilliant innings came in an India defeat.
Six equals eight
The Super Eights tournament, hosted by Malaysia in 1996, provided the wider world its first glimpse of Adam Gilchrist's big hitting. In this format, which featured eight-player teams in 14-overs-a-side matches, the reward for clearing the fence was eight runs, not six. In this video, Gilchrist, playing for Australia A, peppers the leg-side boundaries and even slogs an eight over the roof. You can also watch eights from Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Allan Border, who were all incidentally playing for Malaysia.
The Super Eights tournament, hosted by Malaysia in 1996, provided the wider world its first glimpse of Adam Gilchrist's big hitting. In this format, which featured eight-player teams in 14-overs-a-side matches, the reward for clearing the fence was eight runs, not six. In this video, Gilchrist, playing for Australia A, peppers the leg-side boundaries and even slogs an eight over the roof. You can also watch eights from Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Allan Border, who were all incidentally playing for Malaysia.
Convert starts? What's that?
The Hong Kong Super Sixes endured for much longer than other tournaments of its ilk, lasting for 19 seasons until being shelved indefinitely last year. The tournament featured teams of six players each facing off in five-overs-a-side contests, and a number of stars from around the world took part, over the years.
The Hong Kong Super Sixes endured for much longer than other tournaments of its ilk, lasting for 19 seasons until being shelved indefinitely last year. The tournament featured teams of six players each facing off in five-overs-a-side contests, and a number of stars from around the world took part, over the years.
This footage from the 2002 tournament is grainy, and the commentator suggests that a yellow ball was being used that season. Pakistan's Imran Nazir had no problems spotting it, and swatted it all over the place before retiring once he passed 31, because that was the rule. Hrishikesh Kanitkar swung a few sixes in the end, but unlike in Dhaka in 1998, he couldn't guide India past the line.
In this India-Pakistan Super Sixes match from 2011, Dinesh Karthik rolls his arm over and gets Sohail Tanvir caught behind by wicketkeeper Mayank Agarwal in a double-wicket over.
Hit-and-giggle on the beach
When the 2006-07 Ashes series was taking place in Australia, retired stars from England, Australia and West Indies contested a beach cricket tri-nation series. These were eight-overs-a side games played on an 18-yard drop-in pitch. It was pure hit-and-giggle, with the likes of Damien Fleming and Dennis Lillee bowling off a couple of steps and offering up half-volleys and half-trackers. Graeme Hick had all the fun and made a half-century in two overs.
When the 2006-07 Ashes series was taking place in Australia, retired stars from England, Australia and West Indies contested a beach cricket tri-nation series. These were eight-overs-a side games played on an 18-yard drop-in pitch. It was pure hit-and-giggle, with the likes of Damien Fleming and Dennis Lillee bowling off a couple of steps and offering up half-volleys and half-trackers. Graeme Hick had all the fun and made a half-century in two overs.
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Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo