Word: twenty20
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Dates: during 2008-2008
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...identify with this. Twenty20 features two 11-man teams, and each has 20 "overs"--comprising six "balls," or pitches--in which to score runs. Batters are encouraged to swing for the fences. Hit one out--and on a cricket oval, you can hit in any direction--and it's worth six runs. The team with the most runs wins. O.K., it's more complicated than that, but not by much. Purists sniff that it is dumbed-down cricket, but it is easily digested by neophytes. Last January, Stanford spent $3.5 million to test-market the sport in Fort Collins, Colo...
...line drives and home runs) to describe the play. He lovingly describes the new cricket stadium he has built in Antigua, complete with an American-style hall of fame. He revels in dropping the names of Caribbean cricket stars he now counts as his friends. But his spending on Twenty20 is not just a rich fan's self-indulgence: he says the sport is the perfect vehicle for the Stanford brand name, allowing him to expand his business to new markets...
...alone in believing Twenty20 can greatly extend cricket's reach. "It's a format that gives us the potential for the game to become a genuinely global sport," says Peter Young, general manager of public affairs at Cricket Australia. But not everybody agrees that Stanford's plan--he aims to host an annual big-money game for the next five years--is the smartest way to promote the sport. The big spending, say critics, makes for good publicity but not necessarily good business...
Stanford is betting that the absence of stars will be offset by the sheer curiosity generated by the oversize prize and by new audiences, like Americans and Chinese, who won't miss the stars. And ultimately, he's counting on Twenty20's purest qualities. "People are going to fall in love with this game--you'll see," he says. "In 10 years, this could be the world's biggest sport, bigger than soccer." So he's prone to a little hyperbole. But what's more American than overkill...
Know the Score For more photos of Twenty20 cricket, go to time.com/cricket