Cricket or circus?
Just a few days ago 20-overs cricket made its debut in Bangladesh. It was introduced in England to popularise the game among the young generation. But surprisingly right from the beginning the young generation did not accept this new form of cricket. In the September 2002 issue of "The Cricketer International" there was a letter headlined "20-over slog gets a teenage thumbs-down". Some other letters from teenagers were also published there. Let me quote from a few of them. Thirteen years old Patrick Kingsley wrote, "The 20-overs format will be scrappy and, in the long term, detrimental to the game. I am a young teenager but I still prefer the ball-by-ball detail of the five-day game". Fourteen years old John Cotton said "My friends and I are becoming increasingly annoyed with the way that people are saying ' what kids want is limited-overs cricket'. . . . . . . if the ECB is not careful, while trying to attract new fans they could lose just as many". And 15 years old Alistair Young's view was that, "I am not at all looking forward to it, though, and feel it will spoil cricket forever. . . . . . . Test matches are meant to last for five days but in a 20-over slog, batsmen will get into the habit of always hitting the ball powerfully rather than playing safe shots and this will be bad for English cricket in the future. While such is the view of kids in England, who are very much aware of both their country and the game, I am wondering what struck our cricket officials mind to start 20-over slog in our country when our cricketers are so aggressive minded that they try to hit everything out of the ground from the very beginning of a Test match , without judging anything.
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