This shortened version of the elegant game may make it more likely for the minnows to beat the big boys, but that can be of no consolation to England and Australia.
The second World Twenty20 - the World Cup of the shortened, 20 overs version of the game - has started with a bang.
The first match was the tournament hosts, England, up against Holland, a bunch of part-timers and a non-Test playing nation.
But it wasn't the easy win for England that most people, except maybe the Dutch, expected.
Holland won the toss of the coin and elected to field first. England were looking for a total of around 190-200 from their 20 overs in the match at Lord's. Instead, the Dutch skittled them out for just 162 for the loss of 5 wickets, giving Holland a target of 163 to win.
But it still seemed unlikely that Holland would get that target, but they did, easily.
Twenty20 cricket is supposed to be about smashing the ball all over the place, even out of the stadium. But the England batsmen didn't seem to realise that. England scored only 14 boundaries off the bat, all of them Fours.
Whereas the Dutch were scoring boundaries for fun, including several Sixes, and they just about got the 163 they needed. They needed 2 runs off the very last ball - and an England fielding mistake gifted them to the Dutch.
Lord's is the home of world cricket, just like Wembley is the home of world football and Wimbledon is the home of world tennis. These Dutch part-timers would have felt extremely lucky just playing there, let alone actually WINNING there.
England need to beat Pakistan today, otherwise they will be out of the tournament. If England do lose, it will be similar to the 1999 World Cup, which England hosted but were bundled out at the Group Stage.
Meanwhile, the Australians - England's biggest rivals - were watching the match on TV back at their hotel and their captain, Ricky Ponting, admitted that the team couldn't stop laughing at England's debacle.
But that was before they themselves ended up getting blown away by supposed no-hopers Gayle and the Windies (although the West Indies are, unlike Holland, a proper Test-playing side) at The Oval. The Windies captain, Chris Gayle, is probably the best one-day player on the planet, and he smashed 88 runs off 50 balls to help his team to a seven wicket victory..
England are orange crushed by minnows Holland
By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport at Lord's
Opening match of the 2009 World Twenty20
(At Lord's)
England: 162-5
Holland: 163-6
Holland win by 4 wickets
England: L Wright, Bopara, Key, O Shah, Collingwood (C), E Morgan, J Foster (W), Rashid, Broad, Sidebottom, Anderson
Netherlands: Smits (C/W), Reekers, Kervezee, ten Doeschate, Zuiderent, van Bunge, de Grooth, Borren, Schiferli, Nannes, Seelaar
Lording it: Holland celebrate at the home of cricket after England flattened Photo: PA
Dutch courage: England and Holland played out an epic at Lord's Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Hitting out: England's Luke Wright lit up Lord's with fine knock Photo: GETTY IMAGES
England crashed to one of their most ignominious cricketing defeats of all time, as the Netherlands won the ICC World Twenty20 curtain-raiser at Lord's by scoring two runs off the final ball amid scenes of scarcely believable drama.
Chasing a target of 163, which would have been much higher had England batted with any conviction in the second half of their innings, the Dutch stayed up with the required run-rate throughout.
Tom de Grooth's 30-ball innings of 49 was the chief catalyst to a famous victory, and the sheer adventure shown by the Dutch was best exemplified by the four sixes they hit. England had failed to hit a single one.
All the same, Stuart Broad could have stolen a win for England right at the end.
The last ball was bowled at the Netherlands' number eight, Edgar Schiferli, who barely managed to get a bat on it.
Broad, as he had with most of the balls in the over, picked up in his follow-through, but turned and missed with the attempted run-out, and the Dutch grabbed an extra run with the overthrow.
Had the bowler chosen to keep the ball, and allow the single, the game would have been decided by a one-over eliminator.
Bowling an unusual round-the-wicket angle, Broad bowled a series of yorkers at Schiferli and Ryan ten Doeschate.
But somehow the two right-handers scampered singles off each of the first five balls and incredibly, there could have been a wicket from four of them.
Broad spurned two run-out opportunities and James Foster one, while Broad also dropped a chance when Ten Doeschate drove a drive back above his head.
While the recriminations will continue long after the dust has settled on this landmark result - England's only previous loss to an associate nation was against Zimbabwe in the 1992 World Cup, but they did not need to win that match - and, in truth, the night was as much about a brilliant team performance from the Dutch as the desperately lacklustre cricket England produced.
Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara put on 100 off 66 balls
After persistent rain during the day had caused a 20-minute delay, and severely curtailed the opening ceremony, England were put in to bat and raced to 100-0 from 11 overs thanks to Luke Wright (71) and Ravi Bopara (46).
The Netherlands' trump card was Dirk Nannes, who has Indian Premier League experience, allied to spells with Victoria and Middlesex.
But the left-arm paceman opened up with a nervous, low full toss, and the in-form Bopara stretched across to bounce it over point's head for four. Wright also hit his first ball for four, Schiferli drifting into the right-hander's pads to be guided past the short fine-leg.
Bopara was by far the most composed of the two batsmen, effortlessly square-driving Ten Doeschate in his Essex team-mate's first over. Wright, who failed to time the ball as sweetly, nevertheless continued to add to the barrage of runs.
Unforgettable: the Netherlands players can barely believe their historic first win at the home of cricket
But eventually, Bopara skied Ten Doeschate to wide long-on, and England, who brought in Rob Key for the injured Kevin Pietersen, barely did anything right for the rest of the match.
Owais Shah drilled Schiferli to deep square-leg, then Eoin Morgan reverse-swept Borren to backward point.
Ashen-faced: England leave Lord's
Embarrassingly, the last two overs yielded just 13 runs after Wright and captain Paul Collingwood had perished to catches in the deep, leaving Foster and Key to scramble singles in some desperation.
Of the five Dutch bowlers used, only Nannes failed to take a wicket, while none got the punishment they might have feared.
Though the Netherlands' run chase began poorly, Alexei Kervezee chipping James Anderson to mid-on in an over costing just two, it soon got some much-needed rocket fuel with a couple of sixes from the beefy Darron Reekers.
First, he pulled Ryan Sidebottom for a majestic maximum before using effortless timing to send Anderson over the ropes at square leg.
England must have thought they could breathe more easily when Broad had him caught at mid-wicket.
But by now, the Dutch were up with the required rate and a splendid innings from De Grooth reduced the hosts to quivering wrecks.
The 30-year-old right-hander produced the innings of his life. He followed up a straight six off Broad with a reverse sweep for four in Adil Rashid's first over.
Wright and Collingwood were also calmly despatched for De Grooth boundaries, all of which made Foster's stumping of Bas Zuiderent slightly irrelevant.
De Grooth hit two massive sixes during his innings
The excitable tension that was sweeping through the 1,000 or so Dutch fans in the Mound Stand was converted into belief that something remarkable might happen when Peter Borren hit Collingwood into the top tier of the Grandstand.
Finally, from the last ball of the 13th over, De Grooth's drive off Collingwood caught a leading edge and looped invitingly to extra cover.
But with 47 needed from the last 42 balls, the Dutch were favourites, especially with the accomplished Ten Doeschate at the crease.
England dug deep. Their ground-fielding remained nervous, as run-out chances were squandered, but for the time being their catching did not.
However, with little more than singles needed, the Dutch continued to go for glorious boundaries, and that gave England a chance.
Borren skied a pull shot, Daan van Bunge speared a catch to deep point and with 16 wanted from the last 10 balls England were back in it.
At that precise moment, Ten Doeschate launched a Sidebottom full toss into the off-side, and Morgan, diving at full length in front of the Dutch fans, dropped a tough chance and parried the ball over the ropes for four.
Though Broad then had his chances to save England's blushes at the death, by then the Dutch would not have deserved to lose.
By some margin, this was their most significant cricketing victory. And boy did they look like they wanted to celebrate it as they sprinted towards their fans at the end.
*********************************
Gayle and the Windies blow away the Aussies
Australia: 169-7
West Indies: 172-3
(At The Oval)
West Indies win by seven wickets
Australia: Warner, S Watson, Ponting (C), M Clarke, M Hussey, Haddin (W), D Hussey, Hopes, Lee, M Johnson, Bracken
West Indies: Gayle (C), Fletcher, Marshall, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, DJ Bravo, Pollard, Ramdin (W), Taylor, F Edwards, Benn
Take that: Chris Gayle hits out en route to his 88 for West Indies
Chris Gayle smashed 88 off 50 balls as West Indies claimed a stunning win over Australia in the ICC World Twenty20.
He hit six sixes and four fours and Andre Fletcher made 53 off 32 balls to put their side, who were chasing 170 to win, in total control at The Oval.
Ramnaresh Sarwan then hit the winning runs as West Indies reached 172-3 and claimed a seven-wicket triumph.
Australia had earlier been restricted to 169-7 with Jerome Taylor taking two wickets in the opening over.
"It was very satisfying. Andre Fletcher took the pressure off me and allowed me to pace my innings. I wanted to put a smile back on the West Indies' fans faces, but this is only the first game and we still have a long way to go," Gayle said afterwards.
Blown away by a Gayle: Chris Gayle leaves the field after being out for 88
TV technology measured one of Gayle's blows at 105 metres and he added: "It's the first time I have hit it so far but if the ball is in the slot in Twenty20, these things happen and you will have guys who hit it further than me as well - maybe Shahid Afridi or Virender Sehwag.
"Once I can clear the boundary I am satisfied with that, it doesn't matter how far it goes."
West Indies are now in pole position to qualify from Group C, while Australia will be eliminated if they lose to Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge on Monday.
Gayle's side have now beaten Australia twice in the Twenty20 format and will fancy their chances of going far in this tournament, provided they improve their fielding.
Backed by a large and highly vocal section of The Oval crowd, Gayle's men emerged from the pavilion with a spring in their step and, despite losing the toss, they made a fine start.
Just one run was on the board, courtesy of a wide, when Jerome Taylor teased Shane Watson into driving a full-pitched delivery straight to Sarwan at mid-off.
And things went from bad to worse for Australia as Ricky Ponting, facing his first legitimate delivery following two more wides, was trapped plumb in front of his stumps.
At 3-2 after one over and with David Warner (63) and Michael Clarke yet to score against a buzzing West Indies side, Australia were staring at the prospect of an embarrassingly low score.
That seemed very possible when Clarke attempted to loft Fidel Edwards over the off-side field but ended up cutting him straight to Sulieman Benn at third man.
But Warner and Brad Haddin steadied the innings with a mix of intelligent strokemaking and ruthless abandonment.
Warner pulled Edwards for a stunning six over mid-wicket and Haddin weighed in with a couple of eye-catching shots, but the latter soon holed out to Benn as he looked to smash Kieron Pollard out of the ground.
Warner soldiered on and passed 50 with a single and new batsman David Hussey was quickly into his stride, despatching Pollard over long-off and Benn through mid-wicket for maximums, but lost Warner when he sliced a Dwayne Bravo full toss to Benn in the covers.
That left Australia at 113-5 after 15.3 overs and in need of a run-surge to give themselves a competitive total to defend.
Hussey tried to oblige but, moments after being dropped by Shivnarine Chanderpaul at long-on, he hoisted Bravo to a forward-diving Fletcher at mid-wicket.
Australia, 153-6 going into the final over, lost Mitchell Johnson cheaply yet ended on a high as Mike Hussey clubbed an Edwards no-ball for six and then saw an outside edge race past short fine-leg for a bonus four.
But the momentum quickly shifted back to West Indies who, despite requiring a little over nine runs per over, set about their chase in spectacular fashion.
Gayle, who marked the first match of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 with a hundred, carved two of Brett Lee's first three deliveries for four while Fletcher hit a four and a six off Mitchell Johnson's opening two balls.
Fletcher, playing in only his third Twenty20 international, should have been dismissed when he skied Johnson high into the air but Mike Hussey failed to get a hand on the ball as he fell backwards at mid-on.
The openers might have been expected to adopt a more cautious approach after that reprieve but Gayle had other ideas and opted launched a breathtaking assault on Lee in an unforgettable fifth over.
The 29-year-old left-hander hit three sixes, one of them flying out of the ground, and two fours to take his side from 44-0 to 71-0.
The Oval was rocking to the beat of West Indian celebrations but the whole ground stood to applaud Gayle's 23-ball half-century, secured with a tidy single to log-off.
Fletcher passed 50 off 31 balls by heaving David Hussey over wide mid-on for four but his superb knock came to an end a ball later when he miscued pull shot straight back to the bowler.
Another steepling six followed before Gayle lofted a catch off Lee to Watson and Xavier Marshall chipped Johnson to James Hopes at mid-off.
There was, however, no chance of an Australian fightback and Sarwan, partnered by Chanderpaul, led his side home with an edged boundary.
"They outplayed us today for sure. If a couple of their batsmen keep playing that way, they can beat anybody," said Australia skipper Ponting.
"We spoke about getting the first over of each innings right and as it turned out we lost two wickets in our first batting innings and they took a lot off our first bowling over as well.
"With the game being as short as it is, you can't afford to give momentum like that away in either innings and we did it in both."
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