In an incredible effort to introduce cricket back to the African content in a post-pandemic world, Cricket South Africa unfurled the Solidarity Cup which is being held between three star-studded South African teams, taking the field at Supersport Park in Centurion.
The three outfits which are participating in this tournament are being named as Eagles, Kites and Kingfishers which are being led by De Villiers, Quinton De Kock and Reeza Hendricks respectively. Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris pulled out of the fray in the dying embers due to personal reasons. The proceeds from the tournament will be used to support all the victims of Covid-19.
This tournament is being played with a new set of rules which has even left the set of cricketers who are a part of this wondrous fray baffled.
However, the entire world has reacted to this amazing initiative in their own way as for them the sport mattered more than the fact what set of rules are being deployed for that to happen. The clanging sound of the ball knocking the bat, the timbre flying a million miles apart and the loud appeals that echoed for a million miles, all of these lovely aspects of the game were being dearly missed. We will look at how Twitteratti reacted to this brilliant tournament.
LIVE cricket with a twist – a new format is knocking on our doors with our broadcast partners My11Circle!
Check out the rules here and watch #3TCricket LIVE:?: Jul 18
: 2 PM onwards
?: Star Sports 1/1HD/2/2HD/3/1 Hindi/1HD Hindi/First & Disney + Hotstar#PlayWithChampions pic.twitter.com/JujDSOQayl— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 17, 2020
: 2 PM onwards
A lot of fans have not failed to liken the screen-sharing between father and son duo of Ntini and Thando Ntini. Royal Challengers Bangalore tweeted, “Haven’t played cricket for months? No problem! AB de Villiers came out all guns blazing and did what he does best, smashing 61 of 24
balls and leading his Eagles team to the Gold Medal in the #SolidarityCup!
Haven’t played cricket for months? No problem! AB de Villiers came out all guns blazing and did what he does best, smashing 6⃣1⃣ off 2⃣4⃣ balls and leading his Eagles team to the Gold Medal in the #SolidarityCup! ?? #PlayBold #3TCricket #RainStartsPlay
PC – @OfficialCSA pic.twitter.com/Ba4N2SN2dW
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) July 18, 2020
Rajasthan Royals tweeted, “@DavidMillerSA12
gets 15* and bags silver with the Kites in the #SolidarityCup.”
? @DavidMillerSA12 gets 15* and bags silver with the Kites in the #SolidarityCup. ?
On a scale of 1⃣ to ?, how much did you enjoy the innovative #3TCricket?#RoyalsFamily pic.twitter.com/sGvJp7Qci2
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) July 18, 2020
Another user cited, “61 runs just off 24 balls. Leading from the front he has won for his side the first-ever #SolidarityCup – In this new format of the game, 3 teams (8 players each) compete together in a match of total 36 overs.”
https://twitter.com/dxthitesh16/status/1284529827819581445
Firstpost Sports tweeted, “AB de Villiers, Aiden Markram slam blazing fifties to help Eagles win the experimental three-team #SolidarityCup”
AB de Villiers, Aiden Markram slam blazing fifties to help Eagles win the experimental three-team #SolidarityCup#3TCrickethttps://t.co/TW6KHZk5Pf
— Firstpost Sports (@FirstpostSports) July 18, 2020
A few of the users of this micro-blogging site also sparked controversies with their tweet, quoting, “The details to the 2016 Frylinck/Myoli incident. At the time we were crucified for saying there was more to this than just a teammates’ fight. Now there you have it. #SolidarityCup #3TCricket #NelsonMandelaDay”
The details to the 2016 Frylinck/Myoli incident. At the time we were crucified for saying there was more to this than just a teammates’ fight. Now there you have it. #SolidarityCup#3TCricket #NelsonMandelaDayhttps://t.co/wge8xizdtU
— Blacks in Whites (@BlaqsInCricket) July 18, 2020
Cricket South Africa also kept on tweeting about the live scores. One of their posts read, “The
Kites finish on 138-3 and it’s not enough to occupy the top spot. Pretorius starring with an unbeaten 50 off just 17 balls.
#SolidarityCup #3TCricket #RainStartsPlay”
The @mrdfood Kites finish on 138-3 and it’s not enough to occupy the top spot.
Pretorius starring with an unbeaten 50 off just 17 balls. ?#SolidarityCup #3TCricket #RainStartsPlay pic.twitter.com/INRPaOlqVi
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) July 18, 2020
Praises rained for ABD from all corners of the world as the former South Africa hard-hitter went on to become the champions. One of the tweets read, “Presenting you the winning captain of the #SolidarityCup #AB DE VILLIERS
Presenting you the winning captain of the #SolidarityCup ?
AB DE VILLIERS ?
— Aakanksha Singh? (@Aakanksha1616) July 18, 2020
A few supporters were taken aback by the rules of the game and their expressions were worth watching. One of them tweeted, “*Le Me trying to understand the rules of solidarity cup be like* #3teamcricket #SolidarityCup”
*Le Me trying to understand the rules of solidarity cup be like*#3teamcricket#SolidarityCup pic.twitter.com/oulCJP4Fus
— gochii_gang (@gochii_gang) July 18, 2020
However, the fray ended up with de Villiers smashing a blistering 61 off 24 deliveries to help his team notch up the championship amongst the three contenders for glory.
