Company That Brought Us Power Cricket Wound Up By High Court
Article Date: 3rd December 2004
The forerunner of Twenty20 Cricket is no more
It was devised to bring a new lease of life to the spectacle of cricket, but instead just over two years on, Power Cricket has ceased to be. Some may have never heard of this version of the game, but a handful of CSCC members probably can still remember it....just.
They went to the first match in October 2002, it was certainly different. The main difference for this match was that it was held in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff with the roof closed. There aren't many people who can say they watched a game of cricket in the Millennium Stadium!
Basically it brought about many ideas which can now be seen in the current Twenty20 competition. Power Cricket was a stepping stone to the commercial success of today's Twenty20 comp, but unfortunately that step was a big one and Power Cricket was never commercially successful.
The company which ran the competition was wound up after an investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Power Cricket Ltd, through forerunner D P Cricket Ltd, staged two matches at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in 2002. A Rest of the World XI, captained by New Zealand's Stephen Fleming, won both matches against a British side.
But the company ran up substantial debts having failed to sell enough tickets and had to cancel a 2003 event. The format enabled batsmen to score eights and 10s in addition to fours and sixes and featured four innings of 15 overs each.
Directors Philip Pride and Sarah Dunster were not put off, however, and began to organise further events using the same format, now under the Power Cricket label. An Asia v The Rest of the World event was planned for October 2003 at the Amsterdam Arena in Holland.
But once again ticket sales and sponsorship income failed to reach expectations, and in September 2003 the event was cancelled. D P Cricket Limited was wound up by the High Court with accumulated debts of £900,000 within a year of commencing trade. Power Cricket was wound up on 1 December 2004.
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