HUW TURBERVILL: Following the exciting finale to the World Cup final, could the domestic game host a weekend of six-ball shoot-outs? And which players would be at the front of the queue?
People are still talking about that World Cup final between England and New Zealand now: “I don’t watch cricket, but I saw that Super Over. It was amazing.”
Old acquaintances who I have not heard from in years emailed me. “What about that cricket, eh? I have never watched a whole match in my life, but the last half-hour was amazing!”
When the Twenty20 Cup started in England in 2003, a lot of people were contemptuous, saying that it was too short. Critics branded it ‘hit and giggle cricket’.
It soon caught on, however. Blast crowds far outweigh those at Championship matches. Heresy, I know (for all of us who love the longer formats).
Ridicule and scepticism greeted the start of the T10 League in the UAE in 2017. Whatever next? Five overs per side?! One over?! Well, as it happens…
The ECB hope The Hundred (16.4 overs) reaches the parts that other formats couldn’t reach.
England's glory, sensational Stokes and Super Over chaos... WORLD CUP TALKING POINTS
BBC London’s Kevin Hand argued in The Cricketer meanwhile, that the new short-form competition should have consisted of 10-over innings.
But what about a fifth format, to go with Test/first-class, List A, T20 and The Hundred?
What about a Super Over tournament?
It could be a bit like T20 finals day, played over a summer Saturday, or weekend?
The World Cup final saw Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler face Trent Boult, and Jofra Archer bowl to Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill.
The counties could have squads of three – two belligerent batters, one wily bowler.
Guests could do the fielding, as they used to at the Silk Cut Challenge when the great allrounders would face off (Taunton, 1984; Hong Kong, 1987).
Judging the success of the World Cup final Super Over at Lord’s, a day of such potted contests would seem sure to engage the converted and unconverted alike.
David Willey could be well-suited to an allrounder role for Yorkshire
| Team | Batsmen | Bowler |
| Birmingham Bears | Ed Pollock and Adam Hose | Henry Brookes |
| Derbyshire Falcons | Wayne Madsen and Leus du Plooy | Ravi Rampaul |
| Durham | D’Arcy Short and Scott Steel | Nathan Rimmington |
| Essex | Cameron Delport and Ravi Bopara | Mohammad Amir |
| Glamorgan | Colin Ingram and David Lloyd | Andrew Salter |
| Gloucestershire | Miles Hammond and Ian Cockbain | Benny Howell |
| Hampshire | James Vince and Aneurin Donald | Kyle Abbott |
| Kent Spitfires | Sam Billings and Heino Kuhn | Hardus Viljoen |
| Lancashire Lightning | Glenn Maxwell and Liam Livingstone | Saqib Mahmood |
| Leicestershire Foxes | Arron Lilley and Mark Cosgrove | Callum Parkinson |
| Middlesex | Eoin Morgan and Dawid Malan | Toby Roland-Jones |
| Northamptonshire Steelbacks | Josh Cobb and Richard Levi | Ben Sanderson |
| Nottinghamshire Outlaws | Alex Hales and Ben Duckett | Harry Gurney |
| Somerset | Babar Azam and Tom Banton | Lewis Gregory |
| Surrey | Aaron Finch and Will Jacks | Tom Curran |
| Sussex Sharks | Laurie Evans and Alex Carey | Chris Jordan |
| Worcestershire Rapids | Moeen Ali and Ross Whiteley | Pat Brown |
| Yorkshire Vikings | David Willey and Tom Kohler-Cadmore | David Willey |
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