The XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series

The XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series is a four-round beach cricket competition created and sponsored by Australian beer brand XXXX. It was launched on September 27, 2006, and the event coincided with the 2006-07 Ashes series being played in Australia with the first series being played in January 2007.

The first series involved cricketing legends from Australia, England and the West Indies. It was won by England, who beat Australia in the Grand Final on 4 February 2007. Due to the popularity to the initial series, a new 2008 series was held with teams from Australia, England and New Zealand competing.

2008 saw an additional venue - Glenelg Beach in Adelaide included in the schedule alongside the existing locations of Maroubra Beach in Sydney, Scarborough Beach in Perth and Coolangatta Beach on the Gold Coast.

Network Ten is the host broadcaster of the matches.

The Rules:
The series incorporated rules that are a hybrid of the regular game and that of indoor cricket. As with the regular game boundaries score 6 runs if hit over the perimeter, and 4 if the ball hits the ground before passing or touching the perimeter.

There are eight overs in an innings, with the final two overs declared "Captain's Choice" in which each side's captain is allowed to field the batsmen and bowlers of their own choosing. For the first six overs batsmen and bowlers are swapped out every two overs.

When a batsman is dismissed, he keeps batting — however, he loses runs. A score is decreased by 5 runs when the batsman has been dismissed by two-handed catch, and by 7 runs with a one-handed catch. It is possible to score into negative numbers.

A batsman cannot be dismissed LBW if he plays a shot.

The series uses a plastic drop-in pitch to allow the ball to bounce, and batting and bowling only take place facing one direction. The Coolangatta arena initially featured an open boundary along the surf, allowing fielding to be possible in the water, however this was later removed due to crowd control concerns.

Venues:

The 2007 series venues and dates were:

Round One — Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Queensland — January 19-20

Round Two — Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia — January 26-27

Round Three — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — February 3

Grand Final — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — February 4

The 2008 series venues and dates were:

Round One — Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia — January 5-6

Round Two — Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia — January 9

Round Three — Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales — January 12-13

Round Four/Grand Final — Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Queensland — January 19-20

Teams:

2007:

Australia: Allan Border (captain), Jeff Thomson, Kim Hughes, Dean Jones, Dennis Lillee, Damien Fleming and Mark Waugh.

England: Graham Gooch (captain), Darren Gough, Allan Lamb, Robin Smith, Adam Hollioake, Graeme Hick and Gladstone Small (replacing Mark Ramprakash).

West Indies: Courtney Walsh (captain), Phil Simmons, Jimmy Adams, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes, Joel Garner and Sir Viv Richards (new addition).

The umpire for all matches was Dickie Bird.

2008:

Australia: Allan Border (captain), Jeff Thomson, Dean Jones, Dennis Lillee, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming, Michael Bevan, Stuart Law and Darren Lehmann.

England: Graham Gooch (captain), Robin Smith, Adam Hollioake, Graeme Hick, Gladstone Small, Phil Defreitas, Angus Fraser and John Emburey.

New Zealand: Martin Crowe (captain), Sir Richard Hadlee, Mark Greatbatch, Danny Morrison, Nathan Astle, Dion Nash, Dipak Patel and Chris Cairns.

The umpire for all matches was Clive Crookshanks.

Records:

Team:

Highest winning score — England 1/153 vs Australia at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)

Highest losing score — Australia 0/126 vs England at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)

Lowest winning score — West Indies vs England ?/41 at Coolangatta, 2007(round 1)

Lowest losing score — England vs New Zealand 9/27 at Maroubra, 2008(round 3)

Individual:

Most runs (innings) — Graeme Hick 81(57+24*) vs Australia at Scarborough, 2008(round 1)

Most runs (over) — Graham Gooch 36 (6 6 6 6 6 6) vs New Zealand at Coolangatta, 2008(round 4)

* = batted twice(captains choice)

Trophies:

Round Robin competition:

The winner's trophy is a beer glass — the runners-up trophy is a can of XXXX Gold beer.

Finals:

The winner was presented with a beer glass mounted on a wooden stand.

Entertainment:
Throughout the matches the players were miked up so both fans at the game and at home watching the televised match can hear the players talking. Also music was played throughout the day whilst the matches were being played.

When the players were fielding around the boundary, they were taking time out to sign autographs for fans situated around the boundary.

In between the matches there was performances on field, by the female cheerleading squad XXXX Angels. Also XXXX promotional staff were handing out giveaways including XXXX Gold bucket hats, beach cricket balls and other promo items.

Links and references to the XXX Gold Beach Cricket series:

Test stars' spin on beach cricket

XXXX Gold scores big with beach cricket

Beer war loses its bubbles | The Courier-Mail

Crikey - Beach cricket – a turf war between two breweries

XXXX Gold Beach Cricket Tri-Nations series

XXXX Angels cheerleading squad





*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.org and owners of pictures and videos used.