Theres more chance of getting a contest in 50 over cricket. In Twenty20s some teams smash out or lose quick wickets and the match can be decided after a few quick events.

That's true but also with blow outs with ODI you know the result half way through, so instead of an hour waiting like you do with T20 you can wait 4 hours if it's a dud game

Play until a result.

World Cup Squad

Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Steve Smith, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

World Cup Squad

Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Steve Smith, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Lacks Brad Hodge.

Agree but atleast it hasn't got Xavier Doherty.... lacks Dan Christian IMO

World Cup Squad

Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Steve Smith, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Twenty20 given a big bashing at the gate and on TV in a strong summer of Test cricket

Peter Lalor From: The Australian January 29, 2011

THIS summer might have been terrible for the Australian Test team, but it is proving to be something of a triumph for Test and one-day cricket over the Twenty20 format.
While Cricket Australia has pinned its hopes on selling an expanded Big Bash, there are signs that the Twenty20 bubble may already have sprung a leak.

Attendances and viewing audiences for the domestic KFC Big Bash are down markedly on last year.

Ratings on Fox Sports have dropped about 6 per cent and crowds are also well down at all venues.

Crowds for the 2010-11 Big Bash are averaging 13,475 a game compared to 18,152 in the previous season.

Cricket chiefs point out that the figure is still better than average home and away crowds for A- League (around 8000) and NRL (around 12,000) but admit that they would prefer stronger attendances.

In 10 days, the Cricket Australia board will sign off on the identities and locations of the eight new city-based teams to compete in next summer's Big Bash.

NSW and Victorian cricket will run two sides each.

All eight sides will be allowed minority private ownership. Cricket NSW has a contract for one side at ANZ already. The stadium attracted an average crowd of more than 28,000 last year, but is down to 15,800 this season.

The MCG attracted average crowds of 35,000 (2009-10) and is down to about 23,000 this season. The MCG was hoping to attract 50,000 to a match against Queensland in early January but drew just 29,449.

The crowd drop-off couldn't come at a worse time for Cricket NSW or Cricket Victoria, which are both in negotiations with stadiums over who will host the two new franchises for next year.

The MCG, Etihad Stadium and a Geelong consortium are in the running to host the two Victorian-based sides, while NSW Cricket was hoping the SCG would match an offer from ANZ Stadium.

CA general manager of marketing Michael McKenna conceded yesterday it was possible that both the new Sydney teams could be based at ANZ Stadium despite falling attendances at that venue. He said he was not overly concerned by the crowd figures.

"We've learnt a few things about promoting the Big Bash during an Ashes year," McKenna said.

"It's not a real worry as we've had such a strong summer from an attendance point of view (at Tests and ODIs) that it is a bit much to expect people to keep turning up under the current model. That is why we are changing the model."

While the Twenty20 format is wobbling, Test and one-day internationals - previously declared to be frail and failing - are booming.

Crowds were strong at all Test venues during the summer and while TV ratings were far stronger than the previous year, they were down more than 25 per cent on the 2006-07 Ashes series, which was boosted by a 5-0 winning performance and a string of superstar players doing a final lap of honour.

The Sydney Test alone this year attracted 179,000 spectators - its third-highest attendance.

It is the rebirth of international one-day cricket, however, that has most surprised the cricket community.

Gate takings for the Australia v England one-day match at the SCG on January 23 are estimated to be more than $2 million where a Big Bash match at ANZ Stadium is believed to generate less than $100,000 and cost the state association more than that in losses.

The television ratings for the one-dayers have averaged 1.8m viewers, leaving Oprah's Australian specials and the Australian Open tennis in their wake. Ratings for the 50-over match against England at the SCG were 60 per cent up on the equivalent game against Pakistan last summer.

Cricket Australia is still working through the detail of the next seasons's format for the Big Bash.

The locations will be established at the next meeting but questions about a draft or free agency and the equalisation of funds have not been worked out.

The competition's funding model relies almost totally on its ability to gain a large premium when the television rights are put up for sale.

The next media deal hinges on selling into the Indian market.

Cricket Australia receives almost as much for onselling its television rights to India as it does from the Nine Network for the local rights.

ESPN Star paid $147m for the subcontinent rights, mainly to get the four Tests featuring the Indian side in that period.

It is understood expanding the Big Bash will cost Cricket Australia $7.5m before the new media rights and sponsorship deals become available, but there is a projection that the international rights could be worth $5m annually. Domestic Twenty20 matches starting at 9pm in Melbourne would be broadcast from 3.30-6.30pm in India and a Perth game at 7.30pm would hit the massive market from 5-8pm.

Indian money is critical to the deal.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/twenty20-given-a-big-bashing-at-the-gate-and-on-tv-in-a-strong-summer-of-test-cricket/story-e6frg7rx-1225996416619

AB's team unlocked age-old problem

Mike Coward From: The Australian

AS the dusk and the aftermath of the pyrotechnics eerily merged at Eden Gardens in Kolkata the night of November 8, 1987, a compelling image was on offer to the horde of photographers risking the wrath of the stick-wielding Bengali police.
Sitting atop the shoulders of devoted minions, Allan Border smiled as he had never smiled before and held tightly the Reliance World Cup, signifying Australia's dominance of limited-over international cricket.

Given the travails, anxieties and abject failures in Australian cricket the previous four years, this was a priceless moment; one bound to stay with Border and his myriad admirers for the rest of their days.

How, you ask, is this relevant in a week that saw the Australian squad named for the 10th World Cup which starts in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh next month. The answer lies in the identity of the men carrying Border on that lap of honour.

Border is precariously balanced on the shoulders of flamboyant batsman Dean Jones and paceman Craig McDermott. For good measure, Jones is holding on to Steve Waugh's left hand in order to provide his skipper with greater support on top of the world. While their smiles are broad enough to light the way back to the dressing-room and much, much further, it is their youthfulness which is so striking.

Jones is 26 and McDermott and Waugh 22. And savouring the moment somewhere in the background were squad members Tom Moody, 22 and Andrew Zesers, 20.

Judging by the decisions reached by the beleaguered chairman of national selectors Andrew Hilditch and his colleagues Greg Chappell, David Boon and Jamie Cox, such youthful resources are no longer available in Australian cricket.

Indeed, exciting wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine, 26, John Hastings, 25, whose selection is as surprising as was Zesers' 24 years ago, and Steve Smith, 21, are the only players under 27. Border's triumphant team had 10 in this category.

Much more revealing is the fact there are 10 players 29 or over in Ricky Ponting's party of 15. Indeed, it is easier to list those who don't fall into this senior grouping - Shaun Tait, Cameron White and the aforementioned triumvirate of Paine, Hastings and Smith.

Only Border, 32, and off-spinner Peter Taylor, 31, were older than 28 in a squad of 14 in 1987. To this end, it is unsurprising the average age of Border's party was 25.28 as opposed to 36-year-old Ponting's at 29.46 - surely one of the oldest squads assembled for one of the most frenetic forms of the game.

These figures will particularly resonate with Chappell and Boon. In 1987, Chappell was, with Jim Higgs and coach Bob Simpson, a member of the selection panel chaired by discerning Lawrie Sawle. Boon was fortunate to have the opportunity to resurrect his career at the World Cup having lost confidence, form and eventually the vice-captaincy against England the previous summer.

While it is popularly believed the 1989 Ashes triumph in England marks the rebirth of Australian cricket following the tumult and schisms of the late 1970s and 1980s, your scribe has long believed the fabled renaissance began at the World Cup in 1987.

While not wishing to hex Ponting and his men, it is difficult to see how they can engender within the Australian cricket community the sense of excitement and optimism for the future that was evident at the close of 1987. While experience, nous and cunning must never be dismissed or devalued, it generally best serves the cause when complemented by young, zestful, ambitious cricketers who are neither cynical nor constantly looking over their shoulder.

That Hilditch and his fellow selectors believe so few options are open to them is of deep concern and will be addressed in the wide-ranging investigation - read inquisition - demanded by the game's many stakeholders following the disastrous Ashes campaign this summer.

The calls for change and for a courageous and imaginative selection policy were just as strident in 1987 when Australia last lost the Ashes on home soil. And Sawle, who at 85 still keeps a close eye on the national teams, fearlessly enacted change for the long-term good. Suddenly there was no place for Merv Hughes, Dirk Wellham, Greg Ritchie, Greg Matthews, Tim Zoehrer and Simon Davis and the door was opened to Moody, Zesers, Mike Veletta and Tim May. The winds of change howled.

In his opening remarks to the 1987-88 annual report of the then Australian Cricket Board, chief executive David Richards said: "On the field the performances of the Australian team did much to re-establish our reputation as a cricket nation after three disappointing years. Highlight of the year was Australia's World Cup win, a marvellous achievement by the players and the team management."

The World Cup triumph was followed by a 1-0 success in a three-Test series with New Zealand - Australia's first Test series win since 1983-84 - a draw with England in the Bicentennial Test at Sydney, a victory over Sri Lanka in their inaugural Test in Australia, victory in the triangular one-day competition with the West Indies and England and a win over England in the Bicentennial one-day international in Melbourne. Indeed, Australia's only loss for the domestic summer was by one run to New Zealand in a one-day encounter.

Richards' report also included this telling paragraph: "The success of the side indicated the long-range planning of the board and the selectors during a period of rebuilding that had many setbacks through disappointing and inconsistent performances."

Despite some awkward hiccups against the irresistible West Indies in 1988-89, the new confidence, unbreakable spirit and sense of destiny spawned in India was still evident and the momentum gathered paid off spectacularly and unforgettably in England in 1989.

This time around the game's governors and selectors must answer questions about a serious lack of long-range planning. This is all the more concerning given so many of the initiatives taken in Australian cricket over the past 10 years or so have been predicated on avoiding the pitfalls which beset the game in this country leading up to the 1987 World Cup.

It is problematic whether James Sutherland will be able to pen any words of reassurance and optimism when he reflects on this year's World Cup in the annual report for 2011-12


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/abs-team-unlocked-age-old-problem/story-e6frg7t6-1225992612882

What happened 30 years ago to the day?????

17 year old Patrick Cummins has torn through Tasmania in their rain affected semi final against NSW. Cummins has taken 4-13 off 3.3 overs. Tasmania 9/91 off 15.3 with 1.3 left.

[size=6]Cricketers in "racial" Twitter row[/size]

Two Australian international cricketers are embroiled in a Twitter war with one accusing a player from a domestic Twenty20 team of racial vilification.

Friction is high between the New South Wales and Tasmania after the Blues cruised to victory in the Big Bash preliminary final at Bellerive Oval on Tuesday.

NSW opener David Warner belted his team to the win with 70 runs from 49 balls, including a six that travelled an estimated 120m and out of the ground.

However, the blow and Warner's subsequent celebrations sparked a row between the teams that has carried on to Twitter. The pair have exchanged fiery messages, including one from Warner that indicates Tasmanian bowler Brett Geeves had upset a Blues teammate with an on-field comment.

The exchange started with a post-match tweet from Geeves over Warner's reaction to a six hit of Tasmanian bowler Ben Hilfenhaus.

"Any young children that saw D Warners reaction after hitting Hilf for biggest 6 ever - take that as an example of humility gone wrong." Geeves tweeted..

And Warner later replied, "@davidwarner31: @brettygeevz u want 2 talk humility u were lucky one player refused to follow up on your racial villification slur u made on the field."

But Geeves wasn't finished.

"It's a z. I get the feeling my name isn't the only one you have trouble spelling," was what Geeves tweeted.

The matter is sure to be investigated by Cricket Australia.

Both Warner and Geeves have represented Australia in one-day internationals.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/cricket/8762332/cricketers-in-racial-twitter-row/

WTF? Never liked Geeves for some reason, I've always thought he's a git. He came into to talk to my class at school once, he's a nice bloke but out the pitch he's just the sort of person with the word bastard written all over him.