Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series

.

The first series involved cricketing legends from Australia, England and the West Indies. It was won by England, who beat Australia in the Grand Final on 4 February 2007. Due to the popularity to the initial series, a new 2008 series was held with teams from Australia, England and New Zealand competing.

2008 saw an additional venue - Glenelg Beach in Adelaide included in the schedule alongside the existing locations of Maroubra Beach in Sydney, Scarborough Beach in Perth and Coolangatta Beach on the Gold Coast.

Network Ten is the host broadcaster of the matches. [ [http://www.bandt.com.au/news/32/0c045832.asp XXXX Gold scores big with beach cricket] - B&T, "26 Sept 2006"]

Rules

The series incorporated rules that are a hybrid of the regular game and that of indoor cricket. As with the regular game boundaries score 6 runs if hit over the perimeter, and 4 if the ball hits the ground before passing or touching the perimeter.

There are eight overs in an innings, with the final two overs declared [http://www.xxxxgoldbeachcricket.com.au/About-Beach-Cricket/The-Concept.aspx "Captain's Choice"] in which each side's captain is allowed to field the batsmen and bowlers of their own choosing. For the first six overs batsmen and bowlers are swapped out every two overs.

When a batsman is dismissed, he keeps batting — however, he loses runs. A score is decreased by 5 runs when the batsman has been dismissed by two-handed catch, and by 7 runs with a one-handed catch. It is possible to score into negative numbers.

A batsman cannot be dismissed LBW if he plays a shot.

The series uses a plastic drop-in pitch to allow the ball to bounce, and batting and bowling only take place facing one direction. The Coolangatta arena initially featured an open boundary along the surf, allowing fielding to be possible in the water, however this was later removed due to crowd control concerns.

Venues

The 2007 series venues and dates were:

* Round One — Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Queensland — January 19-20
* Round Two — Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia — January 26-27
* Round Three — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — February 3
* Grand Final — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — February 4

The 2008 series venues and dates were:

* Round One — Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia — January 5-6
* Round Two — Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia — January 9
* Round Three — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — January 12-13
* Round Four/Grand Final — Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Queensland — January 19-20

Teams

2007

*Australia: Allan Border (captain), Jeff Thomson, Kim Hughes, Dean Jones, Dennis Lillee, Damien Fleming and Mark Waugh.
*England: Graham Gooch (captain), Darren Gough, Allan Lamb, Robin Smith, Adam Hollioake, Graeme Hick and Gladstone Small (replacing Mark Ramprakash).
*West Indies: Courtney Walsh (captain), Phil Simmons, Jimmy Adams, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes, Joel Garner and Sir Viv Richards (new addition).

The umpire for all matches was Dickie Bird.

2008

*Australia: Allan Border "(captain)", Jeff Thomson, Dean Jones, Dennis Lillee, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming, Michael Bevan, Stuart Law and Darren Lehmann.
*England: Graham Gooch "(captain)", Robin Smith, Adam Hollioake, Graeme Hick, Gladstone Small, Phil Defreitas, Angus Fraser and John Emburey.
*New Zealand: Martin Crowe "(captain)", Sir Richard Hadlee, Mark Greatbatch, Danny Morrison, Nathan Astle, Dion Nash, Dipak Patel and Chris Cairns.The umpire for all matches was Clive Crookshanks.

Round robin competition results

2007 series

Round one

*Round one competition, played in Coolangatta, Queensland, on Friday, 19 January and Saturday, 20 January, 2007:

:*Round Robin::* Australia vs West Indies — won by Australia::* West Indies vs England — won by West Indies::* England vs Australia — won by England

:*Final::* Australia vs West Indies — won by Australia

Round two

*Round two competition, played in Scarborough, Western Australia, on Friday, 26 January and Saturday, 27 January, 2007:

:*Round Robin::* Australia vs England — won by England::* West Indies vs England — won by England::* Australia vs West Indies — won by West Indies

:*Final::* England vs West Indies — won by West Indies

Round three

*Round three competition, played in Maroubra, New South Wales, on Saturday, 3 February, 2007::*England vs West Indies — won by England::*England vs Australia — won by England::*Australia vs West Indies — won by Australia :*Final::*England vs Australia — won by England

Finals

*Finals, played in Maroubra, New South Wales, on Sunday, 4 February, 2007:

:*Semi-Final::* England vs West Indies — won by England

:*Final::* England vs Australia — won by England

2008 series

Leaderboard

Points
*2 — Win
*0 — Loss
*1 — Tie
*1 — Abandoned match
*1 — Win by 20 or more runs

Round one

*Round one competition, played in Scarborough, Western Australia, on Saturday, 5 January and Sunday, 6 January, 2008:

:*Round Robin::* "England 1/101" vs New Zealand 2/106::* "Australia 0/126" vs England 1/153::* "Australia 6/112" vs New Zealand 5/127:*Final::* "New Zealand 3/102" vs England 2/106

Round Two

*Round Two competition, played in Glenelg, South Australia, on Wednesday, 9 January 2008:

:*Round Robin::* "Australia 7/52" vs New Zealand 0/101::* Australia 1/79 vs "England 5/69"::* England 2/103 vs "New Zealand 8/44":*Final::* England 3/94 vs "New Zealand 8/51"

Round three

*Round three competition, played in Maroubra, New South Wales, on Saturday, 12 January and Sunday 13 January, 2008:::* "England 9/27" vs New Zealand 0/116::* Australia 5/55 vs "New Zealand 4/54"::* Australia 2/98 vs "England 2/94":*Final::* New Zealand 4/105 vs "Australia 4/77"

Round four

*Round four competition, played in Coolangatta, Queensland on Saturday, 19 January, 2008:::* "Australia 4/84" vs New Zealand 4/95::* "England 0/120" vs New Zealand 2/126::* "Australia 4/82" vs England 4/99

Finals

*Finals, played in Coolangatta, Queensland, on Sunday, 20 January, 2008:

:*Round 4 Regional-Final *::* Australia 2/113 vs "Gold Legends 2/108"

:*Final::* New Zealand 3/88 vs "England 6/63"

* "Regional final between New Zealand and England was replaced by a match between Australia and the Gold Legends, ""the Gold Legends were a combination of the English and New Zealand teams."

Records

Team
*Highest winning score — England 1/153 vs Australia at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)
*Highest losing score — Australia 0/126 vs England at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)
*Lowest winning score — West Indies vs England ?/41 at Coolangatta, 2007(round 1)
*Lowest losing score — England vs New Zealand 9/27 at Maroubra, 2008(round 3)

Individual
*Most runs (innings) — Graeme Hick 81(57+24*) vs Australia at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)
*Most runs (over) — Graham Gooch 36 (6 6 6 6 6 6) vs New Zealand at Coolangatta, 2008(round 4)

* = batted twice(captains choice)

Trophies

Round Robin competition:
* The winner's trophy is a beer glass — the runners-up trophy is a can of XXXX Gold beer.

Finals:
* The winner was presented with a beer glass mounted on a wooden stand.

Promotions & Marketing

For the 2008 series, XXXX will be giving away free XXXX GOLD Beach Cricket Aussie Team Shirts as part of sales of promotional cartons of XXXX GOLD. New television commercials will also be airing, starring some of the Beach Cricket legends.

Entertainment

Throughout the matches the players were miked up so both fans at the game and at home watching the televised match can hear the players talking. Also music was played throughout the day whilst the matches were being played.

When the players were fielding around the boundary, they were taking time out to sign autographs for fans situated around the boundary.

In between the matches there was performances on field, by the female cheerleading squad [http://www.xxxxangels.com.au/#ru18 XXXX Angels] . Also XXXX promotional staff were handing out giveaways including XXXX Gold bucket hats, beach cricket balls and other promo items.

Controversy

XXXX's sponsorship of the series caused a number of controversies with Cricket Australia, which is sponsored by another beer brand, VB from Carlton & United Beverages.

The Gabba was forced to remove XXXX billboards promoting the series from the ground after the organisation threatened to take away the ground's rights to host future international matches. Cricket Australia claimed that XXXX's billboards were a form of "ambush marketing". [ [http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,,21151266-10389,00.html Beer war loses its bubbles | The Courier-Mail ] ]

Allan Border was also forced to resign as a national selector for taking part in the series against Foster's Group wishes. [ [http://www.crikey.com.au/Sport/20070117-Beach-cricket-a-turf-war-between-two-breweries.html Crikey - Beach cricket – a turf war between two breweries - Beach cricket – a turf war between two breweries ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.xxxxgoldbeachcricket.com.au XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series]
* [http://www.xxxxangels.com.au/#ru18 XXXX Angels cheerleading squad]