A Lofted Drive

The Evolution
Those who had witnessed the devastation the English cricket team took at the hands of the Australians a few summers ago wouldn’t have dared to imagine even in their wildest musings that a resurgent English team would win back the ashes within a span of four years. Had anyone then prophesied that the team would remain unbeaten on the home turf for straight six years, he was sure to be ridiculed. That was in 2001 and a whole lot of things in English cricket have changed since then. The one-day side clutched the VB series cup and, later, the Natwest trophy with a hitherto unseen fervour that astonished those who had castigated the team for its low ratings despite being the best team after Australia in tests.
Such is the dependency of the popularity of a game on the performance of the national side so that the former fares better or worse in proportion to the latter. Of course there are exceptions like when a side has fanatical followers despite the team’s existence being limited to the fringes of the game or when a side’s best performances go unnoticed in their own backyard. But the good results from the national team combined with better and innovative domestic leagues has revived the most liked summer game of England after it’s popularity touching a low in the late ‘90s.
The Stars
It’s no secret that every game thrives on superstars, players who are a cut above the rest, box office winners - as the current expression goes. England’s search for one after the uneventful ‘90s had supposedly ended with the all rounder from Lancashire, Andrew Flintoff, a match winner in his own right. Who would have thought that more was in the offing and a lanky, tattooed batsman with varying hairstyles and aggressive batting would rise to the zenith of ICC rankings in a relatively short period of time. If Kevin Pieterson’s exploits with the willow saved England many a matches, then it was the turn and flight on leather that equipped a sardar to return with impressive bowling figures after every test match. Monty Panesar not only became a sellout name but also found many impersonators, complete with turban and beard, following him. It would be difficult to find another paradigm for a captain inspiring the rest of the lot than Paul Collingwood, an excellent fielder and a trustworthy batsman, under whom the ODI team was a revelation as an admirable fielding side. One more mammoth shot in a final over could have made Dimitri Mascarenhas only the second batsman in international cricket to hit every ball in an over for a six, nonetheless it catapulted the powerful hitter who already had the reputation of being a finisher into stardom. Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, Owais Shah and Stuart Broad are some of the names that are most likely to join the list of the current crop of stars in taking the game forward in the near future.
The Leagues
It would be difficult to find a more appropriate moment than the eve of the first Twenty20 World Championship to throw light on the most sensational and innovative change ever to be brought into the domestic circuit in any cricketing nation. The introduction of a much shorter version of the game with sides playing 20 overs per innings into the county championships was phenomenal. It was instantly rewarded with overwhelming support from the sport loving public. The packed stadiums and the proliferated number of television viewers ensured financial gains but the greatest return of all was that it brought back the once lost focus onto the game of cricket in England. The fast paced game culminated in the emergence of forceful strikers of the ball who rightfully earned their place in the national ODI team. As we get to see a recuperated English side, it’s almost impossible to ignore the influence of the Twenty20 and the Pro40 (one-day matches with 40 overs per innings) championships on the performance of the national side.