If you’ve ever sat there and thought that T20 cricket is a bit long, then T10 might be the game for you.
The Abu Dhabi T10 returns on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports, as Team Abu Dhabi, Chennai Braves, Bangla Tigers, New York Strikers, Deccan Gladiators, Delhi Bulls, Northern Warriors and Morrisville Samp Army do battle in matches of 60 balls a side.
There will be a whole host of current and former England players involved in the short-form slog-a-thon, including Jason Roy (Gladiators), Phil Salt (Abu Dhabi), Alex Hales (Abu Dhabi), Dawid Malan (Braves), Eoin Morgan (Strikers) and Moeen Ali (Samp Army).
Live Abu Dhabi T10
Wednesday 23rd November 11:45am
Hales said: “I always feel like I leave the tournament a better player every time, especially when it comes to T20 again. You go out there and tee-up from ball one in T10, you leave that progress in your T20 game.
“T10 suits my game even more. I always look to take advantage of the powerplay and get going from ball one. It’s a format that comes naturally to me.”
Tymal Mills (Abu Dhabi), Adil Rashid (Abu Dhabi) Olly Stone (Braves), George Garton (Samp Army) and Lewis Gregory (Tigers) will be among the bowlers trying to avoid serious punishment in matches that are scheduled to last 90 minutes.
Alex Hales says T10 cricket makes him a better player
The Abu Dhabi T10 is now into its sixth year with Gladiators the defending champions after trouncing Bulls by 56 runs in last term’s final.
Andre Russell pummelled an unbeaten 90 from 32 balls and Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore 59 not out from 28 as Gladiators racked up 159-0 from their 10 overs before limiting Bulls to 103-7.
Kohler-Cadmore thumped the highest score of the season three days earlier with a 39-ball 96 against Tigers, an innings which contained 12 fours and fives sixes.
The format could be cricket’s vehicle into the Olympics with both Morgan and former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis backing that possibility.
Eoin Morgan feels T10 cricket can be played in the Olympics
Du Plessis said last year: “I think players like myself will keep looking at tournaments like this. The future of T10 is looking good. It’s a format that can be used in the Olympics. The quick nature of T10 also makes it attractive to the fans.”
Morgan added: “It’s a format that you can take around the world and the unique selling point is that you can have an eight or 10-team team tournament in the space of a couple of weeks.
“With the other formats we play, you just can’t do that. They’re more stressful on the body so having a game a day for 12 days is harder to do in T20 cricket.
“So if you look at platforms it might be able to take advantage of, certainly the Olympics might be one of them.”
Watch the Abu Dhabi T10 live on Sky Sports between November 23 and December 4.