Twenty20 World Cup History

Twenty20 World Cup Betting When the England and Wales Cricket Board first discussed the possibility of introducing a shortened format of the game at domestic level to boost flagging attendances and sponsorship revenue in the late 1990s, they did so unaware of the fact that their discussions would precipitate a revolution in one of the world’s oldest sports.

The world’s first Twenty20 cricket tournament took place in England in 2003. The tournament featured a number of county cricket teams and proved to be an unqualified success, as tens of thousands of spectators packed the stands of England’s cricket stadiums for the first time in decades.

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Twenty20 Goes Global

It didn’t take long for other cricket playing nations to sit up and take note of the revitalising effect Twenty20 Cricket was having on the English domestic game. Within a short period of time domestic Twenty20 tournaments had been organised in South Africa, Australia and the West Indies, and these tournaments once again attracted significant support from cricket fans.

In February 2005, Twenty20 Cricket made its international debut, as Australia and New Zealand contested the first ever Twenty20 International at Eden Park. The first several Twenty20 matches were light-hearted affairs, but teams soon began taking them seriously when they realised that the new format easily surpassed both One Day International and Test cricket in popularity.

The 2007 Twenty20 World Cup

Within two years the popularity of Twenty20 Internationals had soared to such heights that it prompted the Cricket Council (International) to organise the first international Twenty20 tournament. South Africa was chosen to host the inaugural Twenty20 Cricket World Cup, which included teams from the 10 test playing nations as well as Cricket Council (International) associate nations Kenya and Scotland.

The participating teams competed in four groups of three teams each, with the top two teams in each group progressing to a ‘super eights’ round robin stage. The tournament resulted in a final between archrivals India and Pakistan, which the Indians won by 5 runs, resulting in massive celebrations in the streets of India.

The 2009 Twenty20 World Cup
The 2009 Twenty20 World Cup, hosted by England, proved to be a tournament of upsets. The tournament featured 9 Cricket Council (International) test playing nations along with Cricket Council (International) associate members Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Major upsets in the first round included Australia’s failure to qualify for the second round the tournament, Ireland’s Super 8 qualification ahead of Bangladesh, and the Netherlands’ historic defeat of England.

The Super 8s then saw both India and England fail to make the semifinals, leaving a semi-final line-up that included South Africa, the West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The two Asian sides won their respective semifinals, leaving Pakistan and Sri Lanka to contest the final. Pakistan went on to win the final with ease, chasing down Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 138/6 with 8 balls to spare.