SUPER RUGBY OVER FOR SA?
INNOVATION: NEW FORMAT MAKES ITS DEBUT AT SUPERSPORT PARK TODAY
Proteas spinner Shamsi says it will ‘broaden the thinking of cricketers’.
Cricket will return to South Africa today as a new format of the game debuts at SuperSport Park in Centurion when 3TCricket is launched with a match between three teams featuring the best local talent available.
Proteas’ No 1 limited-overs spinner Tabraiz Shamsi believes it will not only add a fun new dimension to the game but also broaden the thinking of cricketers.
3TCricket involves three teams of eight competing with each other at the same time, with each team batting for six overs against each opponent. A total of 36 overs – 12 overs per side – will be played after the action gets underway and will be broadcast live by SuperSport from 11am.
The players had a practice game on Thursday and Shamsi said there was confusion at first but they had ultimately enjoyed the experience and he sees future prospects for the format.
“With all the different rules we didn’t know what to expect and it was confusing at first. But it’s exciting and none of the players had anything negative to say about it. I just see it basically as you bat and bowl twice, six overs an innings. It brings a different way of seeing things tactically, like the team with the worst score after the first innings batting last second time round, so they are still in the game.
“The format gets us thinking in other ways which can only be good. When T20 started, people were thinking it was a joke, just go out there and hit the ball, but now we see there is so much strategy in T20 cricket. Having not played for four months, you can’t expect the players to be at the levels they would normally be at, but hopefully this format does see more matches because it is fun,” Shamsi told Saturday Citizen yesterday.
Even though spinners have subsequently become key weapons in T20 cricket, Shamsi said 3TCricket is going to be tough for all bowlers, especially his slow-bowling ilk.
“There are only six fielders so of course you are going to go for runs. In our practice match teams were scoring 80-90 runs per six overs, so as a spinner if you’re going for 15-runs-an over I think you’re doing okay, added Shamsi.