Did you know that before T20's inception in 2003, New Zealand Cricket invented a new format of the game back in 1996 called 'Cricket Max'.
It was the brainchild of Martin Crowe who claimed "I Invented and designed Cricket Max because I felt it was time to provide to our spectators and TV viewers a game of cricket that was short in duration, very colourful, kept some old traditions and highlighted the best skills in the game."
Rules of the format;
The format of the game involved two teams playing two innings of ten-overs each. It was played on traditional grounds but with one subtle difference. Both sides of the ground had a special ‘Super-Max’ carved out covering the region between long-off and long-on. Basically, every shot that the batter would hit in the Max-zone, they were rewarded with double-returns. If they hit a four in the Max zone, it was considered as ‘eight’ or if they had stroked a six, it was considered as ‘twelve’.
