Twenty-over cricket comes to Adelaide

Encouraged by the popularity of twenty-over cricket in England and South Africa last season, the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association (ATCA) has announced South Australia's first such tournament, which will be held on Sunday, December 5. Thirty community-based sides will battle it out in eight locations around Adelaide in a tournament which has been termed the Turf Twenties.

In a media release, Andrew Ramsay, the ATCA's general manager, looked forward to the tournament: "We're really pleased with the response from our clubs to the Turf Twenties competition. This is something new for all of us and to have 30 teams register in its first year is just fantastic. Apart from being new and fun, twenty-over cricket doesn't take up the whole day and this is something that our members are attracted to.

"We don't see twenty-over cricket replacing our Saturday formats, but it is a great option for our Sunday tournament. Looking to the future, we hope to open up the tournament to teams from other community associations so that we can all get together, have some fun and build the camaraderie between our organisations."

Responding to the criticism that this format would trivialise the game, Ramsay argued that it could, in fact, help develop certain aspects of batting, bowling and fielding. "There is no doubt that twenty-over cricket will encourage some questionable shot selections, but it will force batsmen to bat positively, to look for runs everywhere and to develop their running between wickets. For the bowlers, they will have to bowl a really tight line and length and the fielding will have to be first rate."