The first mention of cricket as a game appears in the 1770s, and since then, the game has evolved in many forms. There have been several experiments done on the purest form of cricket, and many of them have stuck and become international formats like the one-day internationals and the T20 internationals.
However, there were also several formats that came to fruition but had to be abandoned due to logistical or ideological issues and didn’t become favourites with the fans as well. These five tried-and-forgotten versions offered a novel perspective on the classic game, ranging from peculiar playing conditions to entirely distinct regulations.
Here are the 5 cricket formats that were tried and abandoned:
5. Double-wicket cricket
Double-wicket cricket is still one of the most innovative formats, and it becomes even more unique when you take into account the era in which it was first introduced. A pair of two players was regarded as a team in this format. When some of the biggest names in international cricket took part in the format in 1990, it gained popularity. Some of the best cricket players competed in a few World Championships from 1997 to 2003.
4. Timeless Tests
Timeless tests were matches that had no time limit for them. There were a total of 99 Timeless Tests played between 1877 and 1939, with Australia and England playing the majority of them. South Africa and the West Indies also played these types of tests, and until World War II, all tests in Australia were timeless. Only two of these matches ended up drawn, against England in 1882, when the matches had to be left unfinished owing to shipping schedules.
The format was eventually dropped because it was impossible to forecast with any degree of accuracy when a match would be concluded, which made scheduling and economic factors challenging, even though it should have guaranteed a result.
3. Cricket on Ice
Cricket on ice is an annual event held on the frozen lake of St. Moritz in Switzerland. In 2018, this event turned world-famous when several Indian and Pakistani former international cricketers participated in the annual event. The fans got to see Virender Sehwag, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Wasim Akram, Zaheer Khan, and others play cricket decked in winter clothes and running on frozen ice.
2. Beach cricket
Beach cricket was a trilateral series played in 2007 between Australia, England, and the West Indies at the Coolangatta Beach, while New Zealand replaced the Windies in the 2009 series. Several former cricketers from these countries played in this tournament, decked in casual uniforms and playing with non-leather balls. Despite the fun-filled yet competitive nature of the format, beach cricket never developed into a regular, widely recognised competitive format, remaining a novelty rather than a lasting part of the sport.
1. Cricket Max
One format that could’ve been a very famous regular international format was the Cricket Max, the brainchild of New Zealand legend Martin Crowe. It was played on a regular cricket field, but with max zones marked straight down the ground. A ball landing in the max zone gave double the runs to the batters. The game was played with teams playing two innings each of ten 8-ball overs.
Wides were two runs, there was no LBW rule, and there were 11 players on the ground with 2 suns available at any time. They even played a Cricket Max game when they visited in 2003 and scored 72 in 27 balls, hitting 2 eight runs and one 12-run.
