Big Bash (2014.364)

T20 cricket is playing a huge role in bringing people to the game. The Indian implementation (IPL - Indian Premier League) is the vanguard. Regularly they fill large stadia with more than 50,000 people on a weekday evening. But Indians are mad about cricket.

Cricket Australia started the "Big Bash League" three years ago, pausing their domestic game to allow it to happen.

And the format really works. Despite what the detractors say, with their accusations of "pyjama cricket", twenty-twenty cricket, with its rock concert vibe, converts people to cricket. 

Testimony to this is Mrs Edinburgh Chap, who thinks cricket "boooring." But away from the whites, the 5-day format, and the strictures of quiet contemplation, the game really flies. In this match, Melbourne Renegades destroyed Sydney's Thunder. As far as T20 games go, it wasn't that exciting, and yet I walked out with a cricket-playing son who suddenly really got the game, and a wife & daughter who'd had a great time, and wanted more.

Mission accomplished, I would say.

PS: In spite of being an England cricket fan for decades, I've never been to a professional cricket match before. In Australia, I did two in 5 days!

PPS: The Etihad Stadium's policy on cameras was hopeless. No "professional cameras", defined as "cameras with interchangeable lenses" allowed. Pathetic in this modern age. Hence the rather shonky quality of this shot.