Tony Becca

The ICC World Twenty20 championship gets under way in South Africa today and, with 12 teams divided into four groups - with the top two from each group moving into the Super Eights from which the top two from each of the two groups will contest the semi-finals with the two winners battling in the final after 26 matches - the show-down, in Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium on September 24, should be a stroke-filled, thrilling and dazzling occasion.

It is believed that the shorter it is, the more even it is and almost like it is in the longer version of the game, in the 50-over affair, it is, unlike what it is in the much longer version, in Test matches, difficult to predict the winner.

Although it could be any of the top eight teams - Australia, the West Indies, England, South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand or Sri Lanka - a good bet is that it will be between Australia and South Africa, with Australia (the best in the world in Test matches, the best in the world in one-day cricket) winning the prize.

Twenty overs is not many overs, the batsmen will have no time to settle in - to assess the conditions, the pitch and to see what the bowler is doing - and with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid of India, Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan and Jacques Kallis of South Africa absent, it will be interesting to see how the world's best batsmen, how Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden of Australia, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakarra and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka, Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa, Kevin Pietersen of England, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies deal with it.

It is almost a safe bet that they will be firing away, if not from ball one, at least from ball two.

Batsman's game

With runs, and quick runs at that, the order of things, with the best bowler afforded no more than four overs, with sixes and fours the order of the day, Twenty20 cricket is a batsman's game, and it also will be interesting to see how the bowlers, particularly so the slow bowlers and especially so the right-arm leg-spinners, cope against batsmen who will be swinging the bat from the moment the umpire signals play.

An the West Indies, Australia and South Africa are without even one specialist spin bowler, with India boasting two in Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh, with Sri Lanka, despite the absence of Muttiah Murali-theran, parading two in Kuashal Lokuarachachi and Dilruwan Perera, with England boasting two in Chris Schofield and Jeremy Snape, and with New Zealand parading two in Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel, they are enough to really test the batsmen.

Although there will be less need for the level of concentration and stamina, for the show of character that is necessary in the longer version of the game and more so in Test cricket, with Tweny20 cricket calling for the same skills with bat, with ball, and in the field, and because of the pace of the game, probably even more so than the one-day of the Test match versions of the game, with the ball expected to be racing to the boundary and to be flying over it three or four times an over or more, the excitement should be plenty and something to enjoy.

No comparison

Although it is something to enjoy, however the sound of bat hitting ball is as sweet as it is in the longer versions of the game it must be something which will assist in spreading the gospel of the game, because of the hit or miss approach by the batsmen that is sometimes, and most times necessary, no one, not even those who have been converted to it, can seriously compare Twenty20 with the real thing.

While the regular attempt to hit the ball by the batsmen in Twenty20 cricket is exciting, while the attempt to hit the ball as hard and as far as possible is exciting, and while it excites the fans who are entertained in a short space of time, one-day cricket and Test match cricket can be just as exciting, and because of the time it takes to finish a match, obviously, and more so when it comes to realskill, concentration, stamina and character, more testing.

Against New Zealand in Auckland in 2005, Ponting hit the highest score in a Twenty20 match. That score was 98 not out, it came off 55 deliveries with five sixes and eight fours. In one over he hit 30 runs off Daryl Tuffey and that was exciting -the best that Twenty20 cricket has offered to their fans.

The fastest 50 in Tweny20 cricket was scored by Jayasuriya and it came off 23 deliveries.

Lest it be forgotten, in 1996 Shahid Afridi of Pakistan hit 100 runs off 37 balls with 11 sixes and six fours in a one-day match against Sri Lanka in Nairobi, and in the same year, the same Jayasuriya blasted 50 off 17 deliveries in a one-day game against Pakistan in Singapore.

Again, lest it be forgotten, in 1986 in St. John's, Viv Richards of the West Indies smashed 100 runs against off 56 deliveries with seven sixes and seven fours in a Test match against England; in 2002, Nathan Astle of New Zealand scored his second century in a total of 222 off 39 deliveries against England in Christchurch; in 2005, Kallis scored 50 off 24 deliveries against Zimbabwe in Cape Town; in 1968, Gary Sobers hit Malcom Nash of Glamorgan for 36 runs in one over - six sixes; in 1985, Ravi Shastri of India hit Tilak Raj of Baroda for 36 runs in one over - six sixes; in 2004, Brian Lara hit Robin Peterson for 28 runs in one over - two sixes and four fours; and earlier this year, on March 16, Herschelle Gibbs blasted 36 runs - six sixes - off Dan van Bunge of the Netherlands in one over during the World Cup.