Cricket world reacts to new '6IXTY' format: 'Absolute load of crap'

You just knew Chris Gayle had to be involved somehow, somewhere.

The Universe Boss – the patron saint of bash and barge, fast food cricket – is the face of the game's latest attempt to play a match in the time it takes to eat an oyster.

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Overnight, Cricket West Indies and the Caribbean Premier League announced the launch of 6IXTY – a competition, as the name suggests, featuring 10 overs per side with a number of "innovative" tweaks.

With the gimmick meter ratcheted up, each team will be allowed six wickets (it will still be 11-a-side in the only nod to tradition), two Powerplays extended to three if the batting team can hit two sixes in the first 12 balls and a "mystery free hit" where fans can vote for a particular ball to be deemed a no risk, dismissal-free delivery.

Thirty balls will be bowled from one end and 30 from the other.

Teams will be on the clock, with fielders removed if over rates are not met.

"BRING IT ON! The 6IXTY – a brand new format that brings cricket fans even closer to the action," an excited Gayle declared/shouted in a promotional video.

"It's powerful, it’s fast, it's my type of cricket."

Maybe for you, Boss, but it doesn’t appear to be the type of cricket most fans want.

Cricket fans sceptical about West Indies' 6IXTY format

Many thought it was a late April Fools' joke or a resurrection of the old Hong Kong sixes tournament, which featured just six player a side.

Unfortunately, no.

This is a legit new format endorsed by a full member country of the International Cricket Council.

As former Australian first-class cricketer Joe Scuderi tweeted: "Absolute load of unadulterated crap. Enough already with these bastardised versions of cricket."

The 6IXTY will now sit alongside Test cricket, one-dayers, T20s, the Hundred and whatever format some promoter with the attention span of a fruit fly thinks up next.

An over per side? A ball per side? Use a surfboard instead of a bat? Hand grenades instead of Kookaburras?

One format-weary fan posted: "For every dot ball a bowler bowls he should lose a finger from his bowling hand. That should liven things up a bit."

Don’t give them ideas.

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