Welcome to the future of cricket. Twenty-over matches take way too long. Seven-Seven games are the future.
Well, not quite. But with attention spams shrinking and the instant gratification era of sport taking over at an exponential rate, you can’t rule anything out.
Lightning and heavy rain delayed the T20 international at the Gabba for more than two hours before Australia and Pakistan were given just seven overs each to bash, whack and grab as many of their not so grand total of 42 deliveries for the innings.
The Aussies were sent in and polished off 4-93 before Pakistan’s batters collapsed under the pressure of needing to score at more than 13 runs per over to finish on 9-64.
Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett ripped through the top order with 3-13 from his two-over spell of pace, bounce and variation with white-ball specialist Nathan Ellis (3-9) also cashing in on the reckless array of Pakistani hoicks.
For the diehard fans who stuck around for the late-night slogfest, they were certainly entertained by the Australian batters who gambled with a mix of orthodox power hitting and creative trick shots as they tried to clear the rope pretty much every ball.
Smash and grab cricket like this is made for Glenn Maxwell and the Victorian veteran blasted the Pakistani pace bowlers with precision hitting, tallying five fours and three sixes.
Maxwell used the full 360-degree range of the Gabba with reverse ramp/sweeps mixed in with more conventional strokes, including a six over square leg from a pull shot and a drive down the ground for another maximum return from his recent nemesis Haris Rauf.
He was in the zone to such an extent that he even middled the ball with back of his bat after missing one shot which cannoned into his pads.
He eventually fell for 43 off 19 before rookie seamer Abbas Afridi slipped in a bouncer which he timed brilliantly but sent it straight to Usman Khan at deep backward square leg.
Tim David was also promoted up the order to swing for the fences and after playing second fiddle to Maxwell, he slammed a pull nearly 100m into the stands but went next ball for 10 (7) to Abbas.
Jake Fraser-McGurk’s berserk tempo didn’t change much despite the unusual playing conditions. And unfortunately for him, the outcome was similar to most of his knocks for Australia early in his career – out for nine from just five deliveries after a couple of sparkling fours.
Opening partner Matt Short (nine from four) also didn’t last long before he was caught, prompting Maxwell’s onslaught.
Marcus Stoinis smacked 20 off the last over, including a full toss launched for six over long on, to lift Australia to a total that used to be considered a decent score from 20 overs in ODIs a generation ago.
Pakistan’s reply got off to a superb start with opener Sahibzada Farhan banging the ball to the boundary off the first two deliveries of the innings from Spencer Johnson.
But he perished two deliveries later when Bartlett collected a skier from a Johnson short ball.
Glenn Maxwell plays a shot at the Gabba. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Bartlett backed that up by removing captain Mohammad Rizwan with his first ball for a duck with a flick to leg top-edging into his helmet before ballooning to Fraser-McGurk at point.
And he added the wicket of Usman Khan (four from four) before the over was out and Babar Azam fell next delivery to Ellis’ first offering to leave the tourists in deep strife at 4-16.
Ellis then used his well-disguised slower ball to send Irfan Khan packing without any further runs to the total and the match was as good as over.
After losing five wickets in the space of 15 deliveries, Pakistan had no option but to keep on swinging but they were staring down the prospect of not batting out their full allotment of overs – all seven of them.
Salman Agha hit a four first up then the next ball straight up in the air and into Aussie skipper Josh Inglis’ gloves to make it 6-24 before Abbas (20 off 10) and Haseebullah Khan (12 from seven) managed to ensure Pakistan avoided the humiliation of being bowled out … just.
The seven-over system meant a two-over power play for the batters and the bowlers could send down a maximum of two overs.