MELBOURNE :It may have been New Zealand’s retro moustaches, wigs and floppy hats, but Ricky Ponting was far from convinced that Twenty20 cricket would catch on after the first international match at Eden Park 20 years ago.
“I think it’s difficult to play seriously,” the Australia skipper said after smashing 98 from 55 balls to help his team to a 44-run win at the Auckland stadium.
“If it does become an international game then I’m sure the novelty won’t be there all the time.”
Fast forward 20 years and T20 dominates the modern game, with Ponting one of its most sought-after coaches.
Franchise leagues have spread across the globe, teams carry eye-watering valuations and players can earn multiples of what their cricket boards can afford to pay them to stay loyal to national teams.
While blamed for crowding out test and one-day cricket, T20 has become a vital part of the international calendar.
The biennial T20 World Cup is a commercial juggernaut and its 10th edition, starting in February, promises to be the biggest yet as co-hosts India defend their title.
In 2005, though, the format was seen as little more than a gimmick as New Zealand’s players turned up at Eden Park wearing the nation’s beige playing kits from the 1980s.
“It was mainly about the fashion,” former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori told reporters in Mount Maunganui on Monday.
Spinner Vettori was rested from the match but got into the spirit with a retro handle-bar moustache.
“Anyone who could grow some facial hair tried to pull it off,” he said.
“There was a real fun element to it … Once the Aussies turned up and saw us they bought into the day as well.”
The teams will mark 20 years since that game when they meet at Bay Oval – re-branded “Beige Oval” – for a three-match T20 series in Mount Maunganui, starting on Wednesday.
Now 46, Vettori will be in attendance but as a member of Australia’s coaching staff under boss Andrew McDonald.
Like Ponting, Vettori’s T20 experience is very much in demand.
He was appointed head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad and guided them to a runners-up finish in the 2024 Indian Premier League.
New Zealand media reported Vettori had been sounded out to replace Gary Stead as New Zealand’s head coach earlier this year but the job went to Rob Walter as boss of all formats.
Vettori said taking on a full-time coaching role would not work for him.
“I’m quite content with things I have going on at the moment,” he added.
“Head coaching is all-encompassing. You don’t have the ability to step away from it at any time.
“Even when you’re off tour, the expectations on the head coach are immense.”
