3TC- CRICKET’S NEXT BIG THING?

Cricket crazy fans have been going mad during this time of the pandemic , not being able to watch live action in any way. Thankfully , live cricket is now back and the fans have something to cheer about. All eyes will be glued back to the television screens and not just the online platforms for work and school anymore. Just as I was browsing the internet to check out the upcoming sporting schedule the other day , I noticed that there was something called a 3TC (3 Team Cricket) Solidarity Cup match being held in South Africa. I thought “Eh , must be one of those non-televised local games played for charity.” , only to see to my astonishment that it was being headlined by the likes of Faf du Plessis , AB de Villiers , Lungisani Ngidi and many more top-tier South African cricketers. Being instantly drawn to this brand new idea , I decided to watch the match.

Here’s everything we need to know about this kind of a match-up:-

1. A 3TC match is played between three teams , consisting of 8 players each.
2. The whole match is played over 36 overs totally , consisting of two halves of 18 overs each. Each team bats , bowls and stays in the dugout once in each half.
3. Each team bats for one innings of 12 overs , which is split between two 6-over periods - one in the first half and one in the second half. They face the bowling of one opposition in the first half and the other in the second.
4. In the first half , teams rotate between batting , bowling and the dugout ; and the order in which teams will bat is determined by a random draw. Thus , if Team-1 bats first and Team-2 bowls , after the 6 overs are completed Team-3 from the dugout will come in to bat , Team-1 will switch to bowling and Team-2 will move outside and so on , until all three innings of the first half are played.
5. In the second half , teams bat in the decreasing order of their scores from the first half , and resume with the same score. If the first innings scores are tied , the team that batted earlier in the first half will now bat later.
6. After the fall of the 7th wicket of a team , the final batsman stands alone and bats. However , this final player can only score runs in even numbers (0 , 2 , 4 , 6). If the 7th wicket falls in the first half itself , the innings will be forfeited and the last batsman will resume the innings in the second half.
7. Each team uses one new ball for the whole 12 over period that is split into two halves. One bowler can bowl a maximum of 3 overs totally (both halves combined).
8. The team with the most runs after both the halves are completed wins gold , second highest wins silver and the third wins bronze. In case two teams tie for gold , a Super Over will determine the winner. But if all three teams tie , they will share gold and if two teams tie for silver , they will share the silver.

The new and unique match was played on International Nelson Mandela Day (18th July 2020) at the SuperSport Park in Centurion , and was won by AB’s Eagles in dominating fashion. For people worldwide , the new venture was a breath of fresh air. It was fun , different , and they got to see their favorite cricketers back on the field- especially the likes of AB de Villiers. This kind of a match also provides opportunity for a bunch of local talent to be showcased and helps them come up. Players such as Thando Ntini , son of the great former South African fast-bowler Makhaya Ntini , shone during the match. But on the flip side , this whole match was advertised as an ‘exhibition match’. It can be questioned whether this new format is going to be seen more often , and if it is going to be played more regularly and competitively , then how much is too much? I personally feel this can be a once-a-year game that can be played in the exhibition style itself , but not anything more than that. Is it really worth jeopardizing the age-old traditional forms of the game for such a new and different style? In a day and age where the sport of cricket is already transforming itself into a much more fast-paced game that is more and more batsman-friendly , do we require another format with less respite for bowlers? With the iconic , intense and traditional formats of test cricket and ODIs already being conquered by the T20 format , is it good to introduce another complicated form of the game to make matters worse and result in the gradual fading away of the versions of the game we grew up watching and falling in love with? I don’t think so. It is still way too early , but the event was fairly successful and only time will tell how big the 3TC will end up being!