The three faces of cricket – Test, One Day Internationals and T20 – Part 2
While the five day Test match version of the game is all about panache, stroke play and technique, its following is slowly dropping in favour of the more exciting One Day International and T20 formats of the game.
Introduced in 1963, One Day International got the name due to the fact that opposed to the five days it took to complete a Test match, the limited overs format of the game was over in ‘one day’. Call it unoriginal but the name stuck and is now the primary
form of cricket played in the world.
ODIs compressed the five day version of the game into a more ‘crowd friendly’ variation, with the result decided on the same day. The crowds took to the idea with enthusiasm as it encouraged more aggression from the batsmen, something that was sparse in
Tests.
The first cricket World Cup in 1975 was based on the ODI format and though it was originally 60 overs allotted to each side, it was later reduced to the now standard 50 overs. Yet, the ODI truly flourished with the introduction of flood lights, when matches
could be played during the night time, adding another dimension to the game.
Colored kits were introduced as each nation now donned a color representing their nation and the world of cricket was in love with the excitement and the thrill that was becoming a norm in ODI matches.
The ODI was still cricket, a bat-ball game but with a time constraint that induced a feeling of urgency in the batsmen to get runs on the board at a much quicker pace. The result was a mixture of increased displays of hard hitting balanced with exquisite
stroke play.
The field had been leveled as the batsmen no longer had the freedom to settle in as much time as they would have liked. That is not to say that there was a shortage in runs by each side as scores often reached the 250 to 300 plus mark.
Chasing targets in the second innings was where the ODIs won the cricketing world over. The drama and the tension often reached fever pitch. One need only take the example of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World
Cup. Sri Lanka was chasing a target of 278 runs set by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and every delivery had the crowd and those watching around the world either gasping or cheering.
There is a certain ‘fairytale’ element in the ODI that is rare is in the other two versions of the game. When Kevin O’Brien of Ireland stepped onto the pitch facing England in the World Cup with his team in tatters, very few would have bet against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013
losing.
What ensued is now the stuff of legend as O’Brien blazed his way to the fastest century in World Cup history and won the match for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751. It was a David versus Goliath encounter with the perfect ending.
While one cannot say the one day is better than the Test format, it is different and one can certainly say that it gives more in terms of excitement, tension and drama. The ODI was the first adaptation of the game of cricket, but it certainly was not the
last, as the world wanted more for less. In other words, more action in less time, and so came along the T20 format.
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