Summary from Day 1 of 2009 Twenty20 Cricket Blast

BACA's 2009 Twenty20 Cricket Blast kicked off to a fantastic start. Three matches were being played simultaneously at any given time in three different grounds. A total of 76 fours and 42 sixes were hit in the first 6 matches of the tournament and close to 1700 runs were scored.

In the first game between San Jose EverYoung and Stanford A at Cesar Chavez, EverYoung put up a decent total of 157 with Meva Singh and Shafiq Khan playing quickfire knocks. Ian from Stanford A took 3 wickets. Stanford A never got going in the chase losing wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 87. All of the EverYoung bowlers chipped in with wickets.

The second match between Stockton Fighters and Strikers brought out some big hitting at William Sheppard. Fighters got off to a brisk start with Jodhbir and Sandeep putting up 117 for the first wicket in 12 overs and Fighters eventually ended their inings at 199 for 4 in 20 overs. What was to follow was pure power hitting by Moh'd Saleem who unfortunately missed his century by 1 run. Strikers got off to a blazing start with their 100 coming up in the 8th overs and chased down the total in 18.5 overs with Moh'd Saleem leading the way with 99 of only 49 balls.

Fresno and Mammoths played out the third match of the tournament at O S Hubbard. Fresno put up a decent total of 132 with the help of Kuljit, at the top of the order, and Dilraj at the bottom of the order. Mammoths got off to a slow but steady start, but never gathered momentum and the mounting run rate got to the batsmen and they were eventually bowled out for 84 in 19.3 overs.

The fourth game turned out to be a low scoring affair between Slumdogs CC and Vikings CC also at Cesar Chavez. Slumdogs put up 124 on the board where only Rahul provided any resistance against Vikings. Except the opening bowlers, everybody else chipped in with wickets for the Vikings. Slumdogs bowlers didn't give any freebies and kept chipping away at the Vikings line-up. Vikings played out their 20 overs but were only able to score 112.

The fifth match was between the San Jose Miracles and Stockton Fighters also at William Sheppard. This match gave us the highest ever total in history of this event. Miracles knotched up 209 for 5 in 20 overs. The whole batting line up clicked with Ashok Singh scoring a scorching 63* off only 30 balls. Jodhbir again tried to get the Fighters off to a flier with the first 2 balls of their innings disappearing for sixers, but lost his wicket trying to go for a hat-trick of sixers. With tight bowling from the Miracles, Fighters were bundled out for 99 in 17.3 overs with Amar Singh taking 3 wickets.

Cougars and Fresno played the sixth and the final game of the first day also at OS Hubbard. Fresno put up similar numbers as their previous game, scoring 146 in 20 overs with Kuljit again leading at the top of the order and Parminder this time helped out at the bottom of the order. Krishna chipped in with 3 wickets for the Cougars. Cougars started well with Ankur and Sunny Singh but had a little hiccup in the middle order but Krishna saw then through and they eventually won in the penultimate over with 5 balls to spare.

Last but not least, thanks to all the umpires and volunteers who've helped to get this event started in such a professional manner.

Winner Prize of USD 400: Strikers
Runners-Up Prize of USD 200: Slumdogs
Logitech Player Of The Tournament: Anwar

BACA Twenty20 Cricket Blast

Playing Conditions

All the Twenty20 Cricket Blast matches conducted by BACA shall be played as per latest ICC’s Twenty20 Playing Conditions.

Highlights of T20 Playing Conditions:

Twenty 20 cricket – Rules

The basic rules of Twenty 20 cricket are fundamentally similar to a one inning one day international cricket match. Each team in a Twenty 20 cricket match has a maximum of 20 overs.

Rule 1: The Free Hit

This Twenty 20 cricket rule states that following a no-ball as a result of overstepping, the next ball shall be a Free Hit. For this ball, the batsman is not given out by any way in the cricket rules apart from being run-out.  Field changes are not permitted for free hit deliveries unless there is a change of striker

Rule 2: Twenty overs within 90 minutes

This rule imposes strict penalties on bowling teams not completing their allotted 20 over’s within 90 minutes. As per this rule of Twenty 20 cricket, a bonus of 6 runs is awarded to the batting team in case the bowling team does not begin their 20th over before 90 minutes.

Rule 3: Bowling restrictions

Bowlers can bowl a maximum of 4 over’s.  In a delayed or interrupted match where the overs are reduced for both teams or for the team bowling second, no bowler may bowl more than one-fifth of the total overs allowed.

Rule 3.1:  The Bowling of Fast Short Pitched Balls

• Bowler shall be limited to one fast short-pitched delivery per over. 
• A fast short-pitched delivery is defined as a ball which passes or would have passed above the shoulder height of the striker standing upright at the crease.
• The umpire at the bowlers end shall advise the bowler and the batsman on strike when each fast short pitched delivery has been bowled.
• For the avoidance of doubt any fast short pitched delivery that is called a wide under this playing condition shall also count as the allowable short pitched delivery in that over.  In the event of a bowler bowling more than one fast short-pitched delivery in an over the umpire at the bowlers end shall call and signal no ball on each occasion.

Rule 4: Fielding restrictions

Only 5 fielders can field on the leg side at any point of time. A maximum of two fielders can be outside the ring in the first 6 overs and a maximum of five fielders can be outside the ring for the remaining 14 overs.

Rule 4.1:  In circumstances when the number of overs of the batting team is reduced, the number of Fielding Restriction Overs shall be reduced in accordance with the table below. For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that the table shall apply to both the 1st and 2nd innings of the match.

Overs                      Field Restrictions
5-6                                           1
7-9                                           2
10-13                                       3
14-16                                       4
17-19                                       5

Rule 5: Bowl-outs

This rule applies to matches that end in a tie or in a rained out game. This rule introduces a novel bowl-out to decide on the outcome of the Twenty 20 cricket match. Five bowlers from either team are allowed to bowl two balls at the wicket with no batsman at the crease. The maximum times the wicket is castled by either team decides the outcome of the Twenty 20 match.

Rule 6:  Changing agreed times for intervals - Interval between Innings

The minimum time for the interval will be 10 minutes.

Rule 7:  Intervals for drinks

No drinks intervals shall be permitted.  An individual player may be given a drink either on the boundary edge or at the fall of a wicket, on the field, provided that no playing time is wasted. No other drinks shall be taken onto the field without the permission of the umpires. Any player taking drinks onto the field shall be dressed in proper cricket attire.