Cricket is a game which can be played anywhere and by anything that resembles a bat and ball. In fact, the game is so easy to play and flexible in nature, people get on with it just with a stick and a ball.
From test match cricket through one-day internationals to T20s and now T10, the game has evolved in the course of time keeping the viewers’ expectations in mind. However, what the game has never seen is a hybridisation.
Yes, you heard it right. A recent video published on Facebook by Aussie cricketer, Marnus Labuchagne playing a game that resembled tennis but in essence was cricket has given birth to a new concept; hybridisation of cricket.
In the video, Labuschagne is seen playing a game alongside David Warner, Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja on a tennis court. They are holding cricket bats and playing tennis with a tennis ball. While the cricket bats have replaced tennis racquets they played it with straight bats and not horizontal bats like a tennis player would hit a forehand or backhand stroke.
The innovative game was named ‘Crinnis’ by Labuchagne who uploaded the video on his social media handle few days back asking his mates, “When are we playing David Warner, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja ?…”
The video has attracted 1.9 million views and 12,000 likes on the social media site Facebook.
With the advent of shorter format of cricket which has actually succeeded in raising interest of non-cricket playing countries in the game, the game of cricket is gradually becoming more acceptable to the masses. And with this hybridization, it is all but remains to be seen if the new form catches up with the public imagination and gets noticed by the ICC.