T20 World Cup: ‘Cricket’s American Dream finally puts world into World Cup’ – BBC Sport

Eisenhower Park’s 34,000 seats could have been sold out many times over for India v Pakistan and no doubt will be pretty full for India’s other group games against Ireland and the US. However, it is worth remembering the venue is hardly Manhattan, rather 30 miles east of the city centre. How many fans wish to take that journey through rush-hour traffic for Ireland v Canada and a 10.30am start remains to be seen.

It is the US, Canada, Uganda and Papua New Guinea that bring the real intrigue, colour and stories to the tournament. It could be argued – and may well prove to be true – that their presence will result in some mis-matches, but cricket is now mirroring football and rugby in inviting the entire planet to a World Cup. Twenty teams is the biggest cricket World Cup of any kind.

One of the many problems with the 50-over World Cup is it is simply a re-run of match-ups we see over and over. Even in T20 cricket, you might feel like you have witnessed England play West Indies or Pakistan umpteen times in recent years. But 43-year-old Uganda spinner Frank Nsubuga bowling to Kane Williamson? Yes, please. Bring on another Dwayne Leverock moment.

The seemingly endless treadmill of franchise tournaments is a pretty credible stick with which to beat the shortest format of the game, though there is no denying that T20 is spreading the sport across the planet. Oman, Nepal, Namibia and Scotland will probably never play a Test, yet here they have an opportunity to compete on the grandest stage.

The teams outside of the elite will fancy their chances of landing some blows on the big boys. Ireland, cricketing giants compared to some of the nations competing, beat eventual champions England two years ago in Australia. The Netherlands caused chaos in the 50-over tournament in India and the US have just won a series against Bangladesh. Further up the food chain, Afghanistan will think they can muscle into the last eight.

There is also a purity to the T20 World Cup that sets it aside from domestic competitions, which are often just the same players shuffled into different coloured shirts. There will be no impact subs, no revolving door of overseas players jetting in and out from other leagues, just the best players trying to win a World Cup for their country. The stop-clock between overs should keep the action bumping along, too.

Cricket being cricket, there are some imperfections and idiosyncrasies.

As has become the norm, the draw is arranged so that fierce rivals England and Australia, and more lucratively, India and Pakistan meet in the first round. No other major team sport would take this approach.

The schedule is chaotic, with matches commencing at all hours and the only pattern to start times is a desire to satisfy Indian TV audiences. If they get through, India already know which semi-final they will play and the final in Barbados on 29 June gets under way at 10.30am local time.

Defending champions England are in the weaker half of the draw, under pressure after a feeble defence of their 50-over world title. A semi-final spot feels a minimum requirement to calm speculation over the futures of captain Jos Buttler and coach Matthew Mott.

The top-order looks exciting and the return of Jofra Archer is a massive boost to the potency of the bowling attack. There is the subplot of Jonny Bairstow and Phil Salt chasing the wicketkeeping spot in the Test side and the prospect of a last global event for some of the golden generation that made England double world champions.

With just two matches possible in the series against Pakistan and little T20 cricket since the last World Cup, England could be undercooked, though the Indian Premier League has disrupted the preparations of others, too.