T20 Cricket World Cup

In this insight, we mark the dip in the year where we’ve given up hope of an endless Summer, but it’s still too early to get the mulled wine going and dust off our Mariah Carey Christmas album. For some, Halloween offers a brief respite and an excuse to purchase copious amounts of sweets and chocolate, for the trick or treaters, of course, but we don’t complain when only a handful show up and we gorge on the leftovers.

​However, during this time, the world’s best have been gathering to provide some entertainment in these dark evenings, and we’re not speaking about COP26. The Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup has been lighting up a storm over in the UAE. For those not well versed in cricket, in this format, each team takes 20 overs (120 balls) batting to reach the highest possible total before the overs run out or they lose 10 wickets. This tournament is the quickest version of the sport and always provides fast bowling, shots being hit a hundred metres into the stands, and plenty of late-game drama.

2021 has been no exception, every team that stepped onto the field came ready to compete, with both semi-finals coming down to the last six balls. We also saw New Zealand getting revenge from the 2019 One Day Cricket World Cup final, breaking English hearts, and Australia beating one of the tournament favourites, Pakistan, to set up a Trans-Tasmanian Final.

Several teams have captured fans’ attention with their tenacity and exciting style of play, including Sri Lanka, which had to qualify for the Super 12 main tournament via the preliminary groups. The Sri Lankan team, which has a strong history in the tournament, last won the tournament in 2014 but hasn’t since managed to reach its potential. With the second season of the Sri Lankan domestic T20 league, the Lanka Premier League, due to start in December, this was the perfect opportunity to showcase that Sri Lanka still held the world-class quality that has made it a great cricketing nation. 

The thrilling final saw both teams vying to win their first T20 title, the resulting match reflected this with Australia and New Zealand providing fireworks on the pitch. New Zealand batted first and set a daunting prospect of 172-4, meaning Australia needed 173 runs in 120 balls to win. After a faltering start the Australian’s dominated for the rest of the night and cruised home with seven balls to spare to join the Australian Women as T20 World Champions.