Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series
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The XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series is a three-round beach cricket competition created and sponsored by Australian beer brand XXXX.
It was launched on September 27, 2006, and the event coincided with the 2006-07 Ashes series being played in Australia. The series involved cricketing legends from Australia, England and the West Indies.
The 2007 series was won by England, who beat Australia in the Grand Final on 4 February 2007.
Network Ten was the broadcaster of the matches.
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[edit] 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
[edit] Teams
- 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 match umpire was Dickie Bird.
[edit] 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 "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.
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.
[edit] Round robin competition results
[edit] Round one
- Round one competition, played in Coolangatta, Queensland, on Friday, 19 January and Saturday, 20 January, 2007:
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- Round Robin
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- Australia vs West Indies — won by Australia
- West Indies vs England — won by West Indies
- England vs Australia — won by England
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- Final
-
- Australia vs West Indies — won by Australia
[edit] 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
[edit] 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
[edit] Finals
- Finals, played in Maroubra, New South Wales, on Sunday, 4 February, 2007:
-
- Semi-Final
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- England vs West Indies — won by England
-
- Final
-
- England vs Australia — won by England
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 siutated around the boundary.
In between the matches there was performances on field, by the female cheerleading squad XXXX Angels. Also XXXX promotional staff were handing out giveaways including XXXX Gold bucket hats, beach cricket balls and other promo items.
[edit] 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 advertising 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".[1]
Allan Border was also forced to resign as a national selector for taking part in the series against Foster's Group wishes. [2]
