Bob Holness
New Member
Should England players only come from Div1?
If we had official policy that players being selected for internationals must play in Div1 only, this would raise the standard of cricket in Div1. The only problem is teams go up and down, partly due to their best players being on international duty!
I think 9 teams, or even 6 if we have 3 Divisions, with the best players in Div 1 would make transition to internationals much easier.
I'd also consider whether Div 2 should be considered first class. This would give players an incentive to push to play in Div 1. Additionally, salaries could be unjusted accordingly, with the exception of overseas players. And some sort of player loan system could work, much like Central contracts, whereby counties in Div 1 will pay lower Div teams money to loan their players.
I think many of my ideas could work if English cricket was not so backward looking. For example, look at the commercial success of IPL. Domestic cricket does not need all the gimmicks of IPL, but credit to the Indians for creating a Domestic competition that's so successful. Were as county cricket is heavily relient on the National side for revenue.
Additionally, it does not help that it is not televised on free channels. There are cameras at most grounds so even if we don't see live domestic matches, some highlights programme on a Sat/Sun morning would attract some viewers.
If we had official policy that players being selected for internationals must play in Div1 only, this would raise the standard of cricket in Div1. The only problem is teams go up and down, partly due to their best players being on international duty!
I think 9 teams, or even 6 if we have 3 Divisions, with the best players in Div 1 would make transition to internationals much easier.
I'd also consider whether Div 2 should be considered first class. This would give players an incentive to push to play in Div 1. Additionally, salaries could be unjusted accordingly, with the exception of overseas players. And some sort of player loan system could work, much like Central contracts, whereby counties in Div 1 will pay lower Div teams money to loan their players.
I think many of my ideas could work if English cricket was not so backward looking. For example, look at the commercial success of IPL. Domestic cricket does not need all the gimmicks of IPL, but credit to the Indians for creating a Domestic competition that's so successful. Were as county cricket is heavily relient on the National side for revenue.
Additionally, it does not help that it is not televised on free channels. There are cameras at most grounds so even if we don't see live domestic matches, some highlights programme on a Sat/Sun morning would attract some viewers.