‘We thought T20 was a passing fad. We just went out to have a bit of fun’
Tim Ambrose played in the first Twenty20 Cup match back in 2003. Now it has all changed, he tells Nick Hoult
Every year the group shrinks and it will not be long before they are viewed by younger players as relics of the past, a little like cricketing versions of an ever-dwindling band of First World War veterans. This year’s Vitality Twenty20 Blast starts on Wednesday, and there are 14 players still in county cricket who appeared in the very first competition 15 years ago – not realising then that they were taking part in something that would change the game for ever. Of the 14, only one is still playing internationally, Liam Plunkett, and the last to play Test cricket was Gareth Batty two years ago. Darren Stevens is the oldest at 42 and still troubling much younger batsman with his dibbly-dobblies.
Marcus Trescothick is still around, but did not play in the first Twenty20 Cup – which failed to attract a title sponsor – because of England duty.
Already we know the group will be reduced further next year, with Jonathan Trott announcing he will retire at the end of the season, while Michael Carberry’s career looks over after he was sacked as captain of Leicestershire and rumours of legal action to follow. It all started with the first Twenty20 match at the Rose Bowl on June 13, 2003, when the Sky cameras turned up to cover this new concept, not really knowing what to expect. Hampshire played Sussex and only Tim Ambrose, who hit a fifty and kept wicket for Sussex, is still playing.
By the end of a tight game, Hampshire had won by five runs, the crowd of 9,000 – which at the time was the second highest ever at the Rose Bowl – was hooked, and after the four-week tournament it was obvious Twenty20 cricket was massively popular, a lifeline for counties.
“It was an exciting day. Nobody really knew what to expect,” says Ambrose, now with Warwickshire. “We very much approached it with a smile. There was a big crowd, a concert afterwards and we just went out to have some fun and entertain people. A lot of us were not too sure about it. If I remember rightly, we did not take it very seriously. We thought it would be a passing fad and it would last a year or two, and that would be it.
“We cranked the music up in the changing room and went out there to have a bit of a laugh. We did not overthink it. The buzz was different and the crowd bought into it. Then again, we did not do too well, either, so we quickly realised that teams were thinking about it and trying to get a leg-up and a yard on everyone else. After that first year it got more serious.”
In total, 257,759 spectators watched the first Twenty20 Cup spread across 48 matches. It has grown massively. This summer, already 316,874 tickets have been sold, an increase on pre-sales of 19 per cent from last year, and the competition has swelled from 48 matches to 133. The new Hundred threatens all this but, at the moment, the Vitality Blast is booming and the counties are determined to see off the rival competition.
From that match at the Rose Bowl, the IPL was born and Twenty20 cricket is the universal language of the game. In 2003, Afghanistan had only just held its first national cricket trials, now three of its players are overseas signings, with Rashid Khan at Sussex ranked the world’s No1 Twenty20 bowler. Mohammad Nabi has joined Leicestershire, and Hampshire could have made the signing of the summer by picking up 17-year-old leggie Mujeeb Ur Rahman, a star of the IPL.
“You see kids coming through now who have grown up with Twenty20, so looking to play different types of shots I would not have dreamt of at their age,” says Ambrose. “For the new generation it is a big meal-ticket if you get good at it.
“There is in-depth analysis now. We have books on every team, every player is analysed and what options bowlers have to batters.
“Personally, I feel it is strange, it perhaps overcomplicates it. The simplest version of the game and the most important skill now is not the knowledge and using it, but shrugging off the bad ball and moving on to the next one. Go one ball at a time and do not carry anything over, otherwise it is a long month.”