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The Future of Super 4s Cricket

Undoubtedly, "Super 4s" cricket has fallen upon hard times since an immensely successful debut season. In fact, since the tenth and last match of the 1997/8 season, Super 4s has existed as a virtual team in Tim Astley's Play-by-E-Mail cricket simulation UltraCricket under the team abbreviation SPF. While the star players of Super 4s - Adrian Korbel, William Lin, Mustafa Qadri and Teng-Tjun Tan all enjoy the simulated game, there is no doubt that a return to the heavenly Super 4s game would be much preferred.

In the meantime, Mustafa Qadri has led a real cricket crusade, picking up disciples in William Lin and Adrian Korbel and inducting Pierre Wong and Edmund Lau into the fold. With real cricket being played, what will become of Super 4s? What will happen to the slogging performances of Teng-Tjun Tan and Mena Shehata so revered in the Super 4s game? Some options are examined here:

  1. Super 4s becomes a national sport. The Lonsdale Avenue turf is resurfaced at a considerable cost and a roof with floodlights installed. Sensing equipment and automatic ball retrieval are also implented along with help from electrical engineers Chris Simon and Ed Squires whilst Mustafa Qadri installs action replay cameras. Super 4s games are staged weekly and with a full supporting cast of umpires, scorers and match referees. Mena Shehata becomes a national icon especially amongst the Coptic orthodox faithful, while Teng-Tjun Tan begins endorsing a series of KFC adverts before being banned for 2 years from the game after being found guilty of match fixing whilst playing for The Penetrators. Curator Mustafa Qadri becomes the first ever player in cricket history to be selected in a test match for Australia based on the form of a Super 4s performance, but is dropped after just a single match and instead adopts a career as the groundsman of the world's first official Super 4s ground in West Pymble. Super 4s becomes an Olympic sport within 4 years and also gains worldwide recognition by quickly rising to become the fourth fastest growing sport in the world. William Lin's antics on and off the field spark the widespread use of 'Strat.Der' bumper stickers and the founding of the 'Strategic Dero' line of flannelette shirts, rivalled only by the check baggy pants and pinkish-red shirts of the new fashion giant "D.P." marketed by Mustafa Qadri.
  2. A New Hope. William Lin, Teng-Tjun Tan, Adrian Korbel and Mustafa Qadri form a 'taskforce' style committee to organise a new and improved version of Super 4s to be played on any cricket pitch and still with fewer fielders than a real cricket game and much more action. Edmund Lau, Pierre Wong, Rohone D'Souza and Adrian Foo become regulars while Mena Shehata and Johann Rayappu in a single game set a new record for a batting partnership in a dual cameo performance despite playing in only a handful of games each. The 'fishing field' employed for Mustafa Qadri is witnessed by a local cricket club player and soons gains popularity for the first time in a Sheffield Shield game and then is employed successfully in Australia's defence of the Ashes against English players Peter Such, Alan Mullally and Phil Tufnell.
  3. Occasional-casual. Super 4s becomes a 'retro' game played only amongst the Super 4s players every few years. Teng-Tjun Tan's running between wickets becomes atrocious as his physique begins to match that of Inzamam-Ul-Haq while Super 4s players commemorate the 100th ball lost in Super 4s practice in Sheldon Forest. Despite the years passing, Adrian Korbel still manages to delight himself by throwing down the stumps during opportune moments while Aaron the Asian causes a raucous by returning for one match and dropping a catch to the amusement of several players.
  4. The end for Super 4s. Super 4s is never played again. Mustafa Qadri and possibly Adrian Korbel venture forth to play proper cricket, with mixed success, at their local clubs. William Lin decides to rest his easily injured body from the pains of pace bowling and with a healed right shoulder, takes up basketball again with Gopi Karunakaran, Teng-Tjun Tan and Victor Ding, while indoor soccer also gains precedence.