Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Starts in 2018 but no England stars until maybe 2020. That's killing it before it even starts.

It will be held in July when the cpl is going on in the Caribbean so no west indies stars either. Some of the foreign stars who play in the Caribbean will stay there because the cpl will have more international television appeal. Fans in India would rather watch Chris gayle andre Russell sunil narine dwayne bravo and kieron pollard than Chris Jordan eoin Morgan and ravi bopara.

Ecb and sky need to think hard about when this is held and try to ensure it doesn't clash with the cpl or it could be short lived.

mikesiva wrote:Starts in 2018 but no England stars until maybe 2020. That's killing it before it even starts.

It will be held in July when the cpl is going on in the Caribbean so no west indies stars either. Some of the foreign stars who play in the Caribbean will stay there because the cpl will have more international television appeal. Fans in India would rather watch Chris gayle andre Russell sunil narine dwayne bravo and kieron pollard than Chris Jordan eoin Morgan and ravi bopara.

Ecb and sky need to think hard about when this is held and try to ensure it doesn't clash with the cpl or it could be short lived.

The ECB are asking for trouble if they go up against the CPL, unless the money they're offering players dwarfs what is being earned in the CPL (which probably won't be too hard). To make this work, the ECB really need to come up with something a little different, and perhaps have a 10 team competition, where everyone players each other once, with 4 import players, and an extra slot for an associate player. Play a combination of day and night games. Play 5 matches (involving all teams) in Florida, where lots of Poms like to have their holidays. Lower the price of beer at the grounds and watch the crowds flock. In terms of timing, they really need to consider holding this comp over the school holidays in order to get the kiddies in, but also so it doesn't clash with the CPL. What would be really cool would be having players from both India and Pakistan playing in this. Then watch the money roll in.

st_brendy wrote: then the 8 locations will be the 9 tests grounds excluding the Rose Bowl.

I thought I'd read that it would be the city based test grounds

that would rule the Riverside out, and quite right too..... attendances are probably amongst the very worst in the country

backfootpunch wrote:unless they make it short and make a window that means all the england players can play in it then i cant see it working

The Big Bash seems to do okay without the Oz players. And the EPL doesn't seem to need too many English players these days.

It's now been pushed back to 2020 at the earliest.

A new T20 tournament before 2020 would not be feasible due to the current Future Tours Programme, mostly with 2019 being a Cricket World Cup and Ashes year.

Essex chairman John Faragher fears that the City Based T20 competition will eventually lead to a 8 team First Class system, effectively relegating non-test counties as status of a Minor County.

He also states that counties now have a different opinion with the proposals since September's vote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/37858871

Out of pure curiosity, what would peoples views be on pairing up the counties geographically to form a 9 team tournament? As a Hampshire fan living near Southampton I'd probably still feel more inclined to support perhaps a 'South Coast Spartans' team consisting of a mixture of players from Hampshire and Sussex than alternatively a possible 'Southampton Spartans' made up of a mixture of players from around the country who I feel no real allegiance to. Obviously we've got no clue what they intend to do with team locations and names yet but it's just a thought that crossed my mind with the recent articles about the intended tournament for the 2020 season.

Don't really know how that would work up North though, it's hard to see how Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham would fit neatly into a franchise system. I wouldn't want to be travelling up and down from Durham to Leeds to watch games, or from Manchester to Birmingham.

Making_Splinters wrote:Don't really know how that would work up North though, it's hard to see how Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham would fit neatly into a franchise system. I wouldn't want to be travelling up and down from Durham to Leeds to watch games, or from Manchester to Birmingham.

Yep, up north would be a bit of an issue which would cause a bit of a knock on effect. You'd have to go Yorkshire and Durham (google maps actually suggests that by car it would barely take any longer than Southampton to Brighton) if you were pairing but then you run into the midlands issue. Derbyshires the closest to Manchester distance wise (but then you'd be cutting it off from Notts very close to it) then perhaps Notts/Leicester, Birmingham/Northampton (pairings that keep a test ground with one of the smaller grounds could be sensible to maximise crowds rather than having 2 grounds that would be limited on capacity together?)

Presuming you then just did 2 London teams with Middlesex/Essex Surrey/Kent then that leaves Somerset/Gloucestershire forming a west country team and a very stretched Cardiff and Worcester team.

Trouble with this is you lose the interest of local derbies by putting two neighbours together. Which is something you would like to promote and retain within a new system. I'd leave things as they are... but, y'know.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Trouble with this is you lose the interest of local derbies by putting two neighbours together. Which is something you would like to promote and retain within a new system. I'd leave things as they are... but, y'know.

I think we can be fairly sure that's not going to happen now! I guess the case is there that you'd form new derbies and some would still remain. You'd still end up with a franchise involving Lancashire playing a franchise involving Yorkshire, and you'd still have 2 london based teams. You'd also end up with 2 different midlands teams.

Well, yes.

Whatever they decide will be messy and unsatisfactory. There isn't any significant T20 history to the game, but if it works, it'll further absorb the summer months to the detriment of the county system. I expect there'll be 8-10 city based teams. What exists now will be so ravaged by the change, they'll feel justified in tearing up the whole system. I don't get the impression the ECB are going to bother with the fanbase such as it exists right now, but look to attract a whole new support. and just write off everyone who resents that.

To me the only geographical way this makes sense to do is if you forget the Counties and make it based around current international grounds. Then each team bids for players from the current domestic player base regardless of what County they play for. Of course you'd actually need a window in the calendar where just that competition is played or it would be a nightmare for players.

If anything that's the only way I can see this working.

Hampshire wrote:Out of pure curiosity, what would peoples views be on pairing up the counties geographically to form a 9 team tournament? As a Hampshire fan living near Southampton I'd probably still feel more inclined to support perhaps a 'South Coast Spartans' team consisting of a mixture of players from Hampshire and Sussex than alternatively a possible 'Southampton Spartans' made up of a mixture of players from around the country who I feel no real allegiance to. Obviously we've got no clue what they intend to do with team locations and names yet but it's just a thought that crossed my mind with the recent articles about the intended tournament for the 2020 season.

A 8-9 team tournament is too small considering the amount of domestic player and venue resources there is.

A 9 team tournament with 3 Overseas Players (allegedly proposed) leaves 72 starting slots for domestic and kolpak players. 72 divide by 18 counties equals 4 starting berths for domestic stalwarts and England limited overs players. Every County has at least that number of good quality T20 players in their team, so it leaves a surplus of players not being involved.

Then there are 11 grounds in England (and Wales) who are capable of hosting International Cricket (Riverside, Headingley, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Cardiff, Bristol, Taunton, Southampton, Lords, Oval).

Are the ECB creating a new Twenty20 competition to grow the game or doing something else entirely?