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Chapter 1: What was the significance of the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka?
This is the TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.
Hello and welcome to the Test Match Special Podcast. This is Henry Moran from the T20 World Cup. For this special edition of the podcast we're going to be looking back at the first T20 World Cup to be held in Asia. The fourth edition of the tournament in 2012. held in Sri Lanka.
Ryan moves in and bowls to Malinga, swipes high into the sky. This could be it for the West Indies. The man underneath it, who takes the catch? And the West Indies have won. And it really is the most remarkable match we've witnessed here.
Well this was a tournament that saw England coming into the competition as reigning champions but their reign would be short-lived with West Indies lifting the title at the Primadasa Stadium against the hosts and arguably favourites for that final, Sri Lanka. But what about the story of the tournament?
Well one player who was involved in the England squad was Stephen Finn, England's leading wicket-taker with eight in the tournament and following all the action. My overriding memory is the West Indies doing the Gangnam style dance almost every day of the trip it felt like.
They're ahead of their time as a T20 team, the way that they played the game and the way that they committed to playing the game. So yeah, that teamed with that blooming dance that I had to encounter, especially when we lost to them in the second round phase of the tournament, staying in the same hotel. Our bus was about 15 minutes behind theirs as we walked through the hotel lobby.
They were all doing the Gangnam Style dance to the music as we somberly walked through to our room. So, yeah, that...
If we go through how the tournament worked, first and foremost, it was a competition that saw four groups of three, just 27 matches compared to the 2026 edition where 55 games take place. It's less than half as many games. And so it really was a condensed competition in those days. And you actually had to do pretty badly not to qualify for the Super 8.
So two out of the three sides in each group would go through to the Super 8 phase. when the tournament would then move into a different gear. Top two teams in the Super 8s through to the semi-finals. And that's a sort of more familiar passage, if you like, from the more modern editions of the competition. So just briefly, the groups as they were back then. England, India, Afghanistan.
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Chapter 2: How did the West Indies win their first T20 title?
I'm not sure how often it's used these days, but along with a major international airport. I think last I checked had one flight per day. In that part of the country, right in the deep south, it was three venues. It was men's and women's tournaments side by side as well, Finney. I mean, it did feel like a sort of real hub and party of international cricket.
Yeah, it was great. And that was my first T20 World Cup that I'd played in. I missed out on selection in the 2010 one as I'd just started playing for England then and thought I might have a chance and was disappointed not to be in it. And then was selected for this 2012 one. And yeah, to have the shortest format of the game that wasn't as dynamic and powerful as
as it is now, played at three venues. It clearly challenged teams in different ways. There were quite a few low scores, including our defeat to India in the Super 8s phase of the tournament was particularly bad. But yeah, I really, really enjoyed it.
And my first taste of having a smaller hub where all the players are in the same hotel, you're bumping into people the whole time, but then going out there and representing England, it was great fun.
Yeah, we'll go through England's tournament then, first and foremost, before moving on to, I suppose, the crunch end of the competition.
England entering the tournament, as I mentioned, as the reigning champions, but though they started well against Afghanistan, massive victory, 116 runs, Luke Wright, 99 not out, missing a century off the final ball, but then collapsing to 80 all out against India. Their lowest T20 total at the time. And I think it was Harbijan seeing a Pierce Chawla who spun England a web.
England struggling against spin is not necessarily a new condition.
No, not necessarily. No. And yeah, Harbijan in particular, then with the way they got the ball to bounce in Sri Lanka, you can see that ball bouncing quite a lot. So it was particularly tricky. And the guys at that stage hadn't really been exposed to the IPL, but weren't that familiar with the players that we were playing against.
Because there were some lesser known names in that team as well that India picked in that T20 World Cup. So, yeah, we got caught on the hop in that one. That wasn't the Super 8s. Sorry, that was the first. I said it was the Super 8s in my opening, but that was the first group stage, wasn't it? And was a bit of a shock and a bit of a knock to our confidence at that stage.
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Chapter 3: What were England's challenges during the tournament?
And the list goes on. And then you look at that Sri Lanka side as well. And for me, that was just one of the absolute great teams with Jaya Wardner, Matthews, Chandamal, Dilshan, Harath, Malinga, Mendes, both Mendes, Sangakara, Tirumani. I mean, just wonderful names. It sort of almost feels like we can be at a point now where we can sort of hark back to a golden age in some ways.
We did. And like every tournament, I mean, you mentioned the two Mendeses, but Ajanta Mendes really did set that tournament alight on home pitches. And there were these remarkable sort of games where from having played the earlier editions in non-Asian conditions, this was the first time it was in playing on what is often called low, slow turning pitches. And it just brought about that attention.
Additional excitement because I think the average scores dropped. The ball had a greater say. Batters weren't just there to try and hit the ball out of the park. They had to adjust and adapt. And I think it made for a fantastic tournament. It really did.
Yeah. Jack Callis was part of the South Africa squad as well. I mean, there's brilliant names looking at it.
Yeah, and that was the most exciting thing about it. You're kind of there as I was. I was, I think, 22 at the time, 22, 23. And you're there and amongst all these players that you've watched play on TV, that was my first experience of a world tournament.
So, yeah, you've played against these guys for the last couple of years, but then to have everyone in one place, you kind of go down to breakfast every morning, you're like, that's Shad Callis. That's so whack. You're down there feeling this. Yeah, it was a bizarre feeling. And unfortunately, we didn't play that well throughout the tournament.
We were kind of just clinging on all the way through, hoping that things would fall our way.
And in some ways, it was a bit of a novel experience, I suppose, because in those days, it wasn't quite the cross-pollination between T20 tournaments that meant that you were rubbing shoulders with these names on a yearly basis. It's actually more of a novelty seeing these guys.
Yeah, and that's one of the benefits of the England players. In around 2016, I think it was, when the attitude changed towards the IPL to allow the players to go and play. In those years, in the early 2010s, I'd always put my name in for the auction to the ECB. You'd send your forms in. You'd say, please, will you sign this?
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Chapter 4: What were the key matches in the Super 8 phase?
Just relaxed, fun, clean fun, loads of jokes and laughter going around, but the Windies were really, really up there in their form of celebration. Phenomenal.
Was cricket a slightly more, I suppose, a game with slightly fewer polished edges at that point? Was there a little bit more freedom?
Was there less concern about sort of... I think the way that players are viewed and the way that you, not behave, because you don't go out to misbehave, but it's just you have your guardrails up the whole time, I think now. And yeah, that was a time when that wasn't so prevalent.
The degree of scrutiny was nowhere near, right? I mean, maybe it's got to do with just individual players, individual stars, the whole marketing thing, individual agents. I don't know what it is, but clearly people could be more themselves, if you know what I mean, and not be constantly looking back over their shoulders to figure who's filming, not filming.
what's coming out, what are the matchups being put out. I don't remember there being much vitriolic. I didn't think there was toxicity of any kind really that one can remember.
No, I'd agree with that.
And I think that's a huge difference.
Yeah. For a player now, with the way that social media works, you have a bad game and you're annihilated on social media. So it immediately gets your back up and I don't think that was as big a thing 14 years ago.
Yeah. Well, it does seem remarkable. It was quite that long ago, but indeed it was. A tournament won by West Indies, their first title, the runners-up Sri Lanka, England falling away in the Super 8 stages, India not making it through to the semi-final, which seems a remarkable enough thing, but it was a very memorable...
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