In an effort to generate renewed excitement and interest in cricket (particularly regionally), Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) jointly announced on Wednesday, June 22, 2002, a new short format of the game dubbed, “THE 6IXTY— Cricket’s Power Game”, consisting of 10 overs per side (with promised innovations).

On the heels of the well-received “The Hundred”, that was contested from July to August 2021 by men and women teams from major cities across England and Wales, the organisers of this tournament have promised a range of innovations designed to ‘make the game even faster paced and action-packed’. While The Hundred was a 100-ball tournament (20 balls shorter than Twenty20), this regional enterprise will feature a 60-ball flavour (40 balls less than Twenty20).

As of now, three formats are played under the rules and regulations approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC) — Test matches and two limited-over formats. Test matches (over five days with 90 overs every day), One-Day Internationals (ODIs) (50 overs per team) and Twenty20 Internationals (20 overs per team).

Limited-overs cricket began with the 65-overs-per-side Gillette Cup in England in 1963 and saw immediate and long-term success through to 1981 when it was renamed the NatWest Trophy. More often than not the matches were sold out, but the competition lost some of its appeal approaching the 1990s, and when Lord’s Cricket Ground failed to sell out for the final for the first time in 1991, that was the beginning of the end. The format was eventually abolished in 2006.

The first ODI match was played on January 5, 1971, between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. When the first three days of the third Test were rained out, officials decided to abandon the planned match and instead play a one-off, one-day game consisting of 40 eight-ball overs per side. Australia won the game by five wickets and that was the genesis of the 50-over, limited version of the game that is played today.

Twenty20 (T20) was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition, to boost the interest in domestic cricket, and was not intended for international play. The first T20 International took place on February 17, 2005, between Australia and New Zealand and the first tournament was played two years later with the introduction of the ICC T20 World Cup. T20 soon picked up momentum and with innovative hints from Kerry Packer in the late 1970s when the World Series Cricket competition was introduced, various international tournaments/leagues were formed with players outfitted in colourful uniforms, pioneering camera angles were used, effect microphones were outfitted, and on-screen graphics were designed to keep viewers engaged. Additionally, these tournaments allowed players to be paid as professionals and they could forego jobs outside of cricket.

The 6IXTY will not be the first-ever 60-over league, as a T10 tournament was sanctioned by the ICC in the United Arab Emirates in 2017 and the European Cricket Network offers a vast number of competitions for European club and national sides, but it is the first by a full member of the ICC. The 10-overs-per-side contest will have only six wickets per innings and the first edition of the tournament will be played at one of world cricket’s fastest scoring grounds, Warner Park in St Kitts & Nevis from August 24 to 28, 2022, just before the 10th season of the CPL.

The inaugural edition of The 6IXTY will include as many as six men’s teams from the CPL and three women’s teams, featuring many of the best cricketers from around the world with SKYEXCH being the title sponsor. SKYEXCH is a fast-growing sports platform that has encapsulated a wide array of sports fans around the globe and has previously been involved in cricket in Asia and the Middle East.

Labeled as the ‘Power Game’ and introduced to the cricket world via a video message by ‘the universe boss’ Chris Gayle on June 22, the organisers have promised innovations that include 30 balls being bowled from one end before switching to the other end and a team member being removed from the field if the overs are not bowled within the allotted time. The tournament is seen as another variant of T10 cricket, but with some notable differences that are listed below:

•Each batting team has six wickets, rather than ten (the batting team will be considered all-out at the fall of the sixth wicket).

•Each batting team has two PowerPlay overs to start their innings. They can ‘unlock’ a third PowerPlay over by hitting two sixes in the first 12 balls. This extra PowerPlay over can be taken at any time between overs three-nine.

•There will be 30 (legal) deliveries bowled from one end before the action switches to the other end for the final 30 (legal) deliveries (as opposed to switching ends after every over) — this constitutes an inning.

•The 30 balls will be delivered as five separate, six-ball overs, with no bowler being able to bowl more than two overs for the innings and the innings should be completed within 45 minutes.

•If teams do not bowl their overs within the allotted time, a member of their team is removed from the field for the final six balls.

•Fans will vote for the timing of a “Mystery Free Hit” (via an app or website) where a batter can’t be dismissed by the bowler.

The joint venture between CWI and the CPL promises a “world-class event” that will bring “more colour, pace, entertainment and excitement” to the game, with the expectation of future expansion to different locations around the Caribbean and beyond. However, this T10-tweak is not without its naysayers, and some have ridiculed the format, including a former Australian first-class cricketer Joe Scuderi who tweeted: “Absolute load of unadulterated crap. Enough already with these bastardized versions of cricket.”

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and time will tell if ‘The 6IXTY’ ambassador (and arguably the best-ever T20 batsman), Chris Gayle, along with the promised bevy of international talent will deliver on the promised ‘entertainment and excitement’.

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