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

ECB meant to be looking at artificial pitches for this league, assuming it ever gets off the ground, they want to ensure consistency and hope to make low scoring games less likely

they could just do away with bowlers too and have 11 batsmen in a team and use bowling machines maybe

rich1uk wrote:ECB meant to be looking at artificial pitches for this league, assuming it ever gets off the ground, they want to ensure consistency and hope to make low scoring games less likely

they could just do away with bowlers too and have 11 batsmen in a team and use bowling machines maybe

Small matter of what footwear to use in matches. Not supposed to wear spikes on artifical surfaces and if the outfield is damp at any time, those not wearing spikes are more at risk of picking up an injury.

Bowlers/fielders changing footwear is not really an option given the time it takes to do so.

truly horrific idea to use artifical pitches, would kill it completely, have to wonder what knobheads are really hired to run the game these days, no brain cells at all!

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.

I'm not sure any of this is aimed at people like you and me, Hampshire, it's more likely to be aimed at people who don't normally watch cricket, or at least don't watch it from a seat in a cricket ground, so I don't see why they'd be bothered about trying to manufacture loyalties that would make any sort of sense to an actual cricket fan with a pre-existing allegiance to a county. People with no affiliation to a particular county will find their own reasons for supporting a particular franchise.

Under the theory that many people support a top flight footy team irrespective of where they live or the fact that they actually go to watch a lower league/non league team, week in week out, perhaps they could instead try to manipulate corporate money by calling the franchises Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and AC Milan?

andy wrote:truly horrific idea to use artifical pitches, would kill it completely, have to wonder what knobheads are really hired to run the game these days, no brain cells at all!

One day they may use Mat wickets like in club cricket

Easier to keep the pitch dry in dewy conditions? But then the UK doesn't have that problem so much.

It'll be harder for the bowlers, I expect! But who cares?

I read today that a football team have warned their players about chewing gum on their artificial surface as if they spit it out it's not good for the pitch. Better not invite the arch chewer Ricky Ponting to play in England. Umpires will have to perform mouth inspections before play starts.
Here in Holland around the local supermarket the concrete tiles are covered in marks from gum spit out by kids. A bit like I heard the streets of India are fouled by beetle juice spitters.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Easier to keep the pitch dry in dewy conditions? But then the UK doesn't have that problem so much.

It'll be harder for the bowlers, I expect! But who cares?

Depends September can get dewy in the day nighters.
2011, india more or less loss all the games because of due and the cold.

Weren't the ECB meeting with the County Chairmen about the new T20 thingy yesterday?

Just wondered if an announcement has been made and missed it.


I think Fred sums this tournament up nicely....


https://twitter.com/FredBoycott/status/ ... 5893137410

Orange is the new black.

Or in this instance I suppose Orange is the new whites.

Everyone is falling into line behind the franchise plans, Root has joined in now. Getting a newly appointed England captain to become an ECB yes man can't be that difficult. Personally I don't give a damn as I shall never go to a game but how can those who love T20 afford the cost of going to two competitions and will it be difficult to get a sponsor for the CC T20 series once the franchise gets started, surely the CC event will wither on the vine which is no doubt what the ECB are planning for.

hopeforthebest wrote:Everyone is falling into line behind the franchise plans, Root has joined in now. Getting a newly appointed England captain to become an ECB yes man can't be that difficult. Personally I don't give a damn as I shall never go to a game but how can those who love T20 afford the cost of going to two competitions and will it be difficult to get a sponsor for the CC T20 series once the franchise gets started, surely the CC event will wither on the vine which is no doubt what the ECB are planning for.

All the talk that the new Twenty20 competition will revolutionise English Cricket, yet it's coming at considerable costs with the County game.

How do the ECB identify ODI players for the 2023 Cricket World Cup (especially when the current crop of players will either be over 30 or retired), when the 50 over competition won't even contain the best white ball players?

What type of existence Division 2 Counties will have with no hope of winning the County Championship and playing in white ball competitions that are considerably devalued.

Playing a T20 competition directly alongside a test series is not going to grow the red ball game. In 10-15 years time it won't be all about playing for England in test matches, but looking to make money by playing IPL, Big Bash, City T20.

its a fine balance between getting the money and relevance in the short term thats needed to compete against other interests in today's world and safeguarding the long term position of the game

wish i had more faith in the people we are trusting to find that balance

Middlesex have come out saying they are going to vote against any proposal at present. Only side to do so I believe.

Good to see one of the turkeys refusing to vote for Christmas.