The organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles has proposed adding five sports to the competition program. The corresponding message was published on its official website. The organizers proposed including flag football, cricket, lacrosse, squash, and baseball/softball in the Olympics.
As Olympic Organizing Committee chairman Casey Wasserman says, these sports spark imagination on the playing field and promote culture. They are relevant, innovative, and community-oriented, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centers, stadiums, and parks throughout the US and worldwide. They will bring new athletes to the Games, attract diverse fan bases, and expand the Olympics’ digital presence. Moreover, he is confident that this way, the Olympic Games mission will be further strengthened.
What is T20? How long is a T20 cricket match?
There are three types of international cricket competitions. These are Test cricket, one-day cricket, and Twenty20 cricket (known as T20). By the way, cricket fans willingly bet on matches of this particular format, so bookmakers offer a fairly wide betting line for T20 matches. You can choose a suitable betting platform with the Gamblorium brand and also familiarize yourself with thematic materials in the Blog section. The site’s chief expert, Nodar Giorgadze, is confident that only licensed bookmakers can provide a pleasant betting experience and guarantee payments.
In the Test cricket series, each team plays two innings as a batter. The match lasts four to five days – teams play up to 7 hours a day with lunch/tea breaks. It is the longest form of cricket. In one-day cricket, each team is a batter once. International matches are not interrupted by rain. Each innings consists of 50 overs or 300 pitches, and the match lasts approximately eight hours.
Twenty20 is the shortest form of international cricket (introduced in 2003). In it, each team also pitches one inning as a batter, and the game is not stopped due to rain. Each innings has 20 overs (120 deliveries) – hence the name Twenty20 – and the match lasts about 3 hours.
T20 Cricket: A Brief Historical Introduction
Cricket has been played for several centuries. The first rules of cricket were formulated in 1744. The T20 format, on the other hand, is a recent one. Like the classic form of cricket, T20 originates from England. A shortened form of the game was practiced in New Zealand already in the 90s of the twentieth century. In 2003, the English and Welsh Cricket Board drew up the official rules for T20 cricket.
The historic first match in the new sport took place on June 17, 2003. Hampshire Hawks and Sussex Sharks met at the Rose Bowl. The first international match took place in August 2004 between the women’s teams of England and New Zealand. Six months later, the Australian and New Zealand national teams played their first men’s international match.
Nuances of T20 Cricket Rules
Each team has 11 players on the field, including the wicketkeeper. The wicketkeeper catches the ball thrown by the bowler – it’s just like a catcher in baseball or softball. Each team should have at least 5 bowlers, as one player can bowl a fifth of the total deliveries. That is a maximum of four overs out of 20 (unless the match was interrupted due to rain).
Each player can be a batter/batsman – no more than once per match. Since the length of the match is limited by the number of overs, some players may not get their turn to bat. A team scores runs when both batsmen run from one end of the pitch to the other. If the ball is kicked out of bounds, the team receives four runs (the ball touched the ground) or six runs (the ball flew through the air).
A team’s innings ends after 20 overs or when they have lost ten wickets. The number of runs a team has at this moment coincides with the number of points it has. The second team has 20 overs (or 10 wickets) to overtake the opposition – so if it succeeds, it wins.
Best T20 Cricket Teams of Different Countries
Full members of the International Cricket Council are Australia, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, Zimbabwe, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The West Indies team is an international team representing 12 National Olympic Committees. The English team competes at Olympic tournaments under the patronage of the British Olympic Association. The Irish Cricket Union, or Cricket Ireland, is governed by the British Olympic Association and the Irish Olympic Committee.
Also, the twenty strongest world countries and territories (as of September 8, 2023) include – for men – Namibia, Scotland, the UAE, the Netherlands, Nepal, Hong Kong, Canada, and Oman. For women, these are Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, UAE, Netherlands, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nepal.
The Cricket World Cup is comparable in popularity to the Football World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. Only 10 teams compete in the tournament, but among them are cricket-loving India (with a population of 1.4 billion), Pakistan (138 million), and Bangladesh (169 million). Accordingly, TV broadcasts in these countries are of increased interest. Besides, the same audience will certainly enjoy the T20 format at the Olympic level. So, Twenty20 is included in the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the tournament format, the number of participants, and qualification regulations have not yet been determined.
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