mas cambios
Active Member
The Future of the English Domestic Game
Most keen followers of the game will have seen that Twenty20 has well and truly gotten its feet under the world cricket table and is here to stay for the foreseeable. As a consequence it’s the English domestic system which is once again left to ‘modernise’ in order to fit in with the new world order.
Whilst far from perfect I would personally thought that the English domestic game (from now on referred to as EDG) was doing reasonably well, especially on its main aim, which is of course to provide international standard cricketers for the test and ODI side. Anyone who was unlikely to witness the large amount of dead games in years gone by would readily agree that the current 2 division system is far more competitive and bridged the gap between test and first class somewhat.
However, despite the rise in standards we are faced with the fact that money talks and the lure of the IPL and its easy millions will have to be accommodated; in order to enable England to retain its best players. The worst case scenario would be to have a large number of talents choosing the IPL and financial security over playing test cricket.
The big question is what can be done about it? Apart from throwing wads of cash around (a nice option but not sustainable long term) the answer seems to lie in restructuring the EDG, namely shortening the season so that the overlap with the IPL is minimal. The talk (ludicrous as it may be) is to shorten the first class game to 3 day matches, played out over 120 overs (or more) per day. We also have the brain wave to turn the PRO40 into a match consisting of 4 innings of 20 overs. I feel that all of this is wrong and whilst it’ll help shorten the season, it’s not going to help improve standards or attract more people to the game.
I would like to see the following:
First Class Championship: Let’s see a third league added. If we keep the teams as they then this would mean 5 home games and 5 away for each side and a reduction of about 24 days worth of cricket from the current schedule. However, I sway towards adding 3 further teams (maybe a chance to expose Scotland and Ireland to decent 4 day cricket in the preparation for test cricket one day?) and having three leagues of seven. This would mean 12 games per season and a reduction in cricket by 16 days.
Pro40: Scrapped and replaced by a proper 50 over championship. Can be based along the same lines as the First Class Championship or can be changed somewhat. The key thing here is to make it 50 overs, played to the same rules as one day internationals. The key thing is to have a competitive 50 over league which helps to prepare players for the international game.
Twenty20: This is where you could potentially go wild. We could have franchise teams on a city by city basis or a regional tournament as it is now. The sky is the limit but it must be handled correctly. The current amount of twenty20 is just about right and any increase could well be overkill, which is the last thing the game needs. I don’t like the idea of having guest teams as we already have the ‘Champions League of Cricket’ but I’m not opposed to having teams like Ireland or a Minor Counties side partaking full time. They could also take to staging two or three games per day, per venue with the chance to buy tickets for 1,2 or all 3 games. This would help to have a better flow of people around the grounds, as well help to reduce the fixture congestion.
I feel that with the restructuring I’ve outlined (admittedly, the biggest focus has been on the 4 day game but it’s the hardest one to include) we could cut about a month off the current length of the season without reducing the standard or integrity of the game. This in turn would allow a later start, open a window for the IPL and also (in theory) avoid some of the bad weather that is associated with starting in April or early May.
Again, you’ve heard (seen) my views on the matter, so I’d love to hear yours. No matter how radical or otherwise, post them up and let’s see if we can’t sort the game out!
Most keen followers of the game will have seen that Twenty20 has well and truly gotten its feet under the world cricket table and is here to stay for the foreseeable. As a consequence it’s the English domestic system which is once again left to ‘modernise’ in order to fit in with the new world order.
Whilst far from perfect I would personally thought that the English domestic game (from now on referred to as EDG) was doing reasonably well, especially on its main aim, which is of course to provide international standard cricketers for the test and ODI side. Anyone who was unlikely to witness the large amount of dead games in years gone by would readily agree that the current 2 division system is far more competitive and bridged the gap between test and first class somewhat.
However, despite the rise in standards we are faced with the fact that money talks and the lure of the IPL and its easy millions will have to be accommodated; in order to enable England to retain its best players. The worst case scenario would be to have a large number of talents choosing the IPL and financial security over playing test cricket.
The big question is what can be done about it? Apart from throwing wads of cash around (a nice option but not sustainable long term) the answer seems to lie in restructuring the EDG, namely shortening the season so that the overlap with the IPL is minimal. The talk (ludicrous as it may be) is to shorten the first class game to 3 day matches, played out over 120 overs (or more) per day. We also have the brain wave to turn the PRO40 into a match consisting of 4 innings of 20 overs. I feel that all of this is wrong and whilst it’ll help shorten the season, it’s not going to help improve standards or attract more people to the game.
I would like to see the following:
First Class Championship: Let’s see a third league added. If we keep the teams as they then this would mean 5 home games and 5 away for each side and a reduction of about 24 days worth of cricket from the current schedule. However, I sway towards adding 3 further teams (maybe a chance to expose Scotland and Ireland to decent 4 day cricket in the preparation for test cricket one day?) and having three leagues of seven. This would mean 12 games per season and a reduction in cricket by 16 days.
Pro40: Scrapped and replaced by a proper 50 over championship. Can be based along the same lines as the First Class Championship or can be changed somewhat. The key thing here is to make it 50 overs, played to the same rules as one day internationals. The key thing is to have a competitive 50 over league which helps to prepare players for the international game.
Twenty20: This is where you could potentially go wild. We could have franchise teams on a city by city basis or a regional tournament as it is now. The sky is the limit but it must be handled correctly. The current amount of twenty20 is just about right and any increase could well be overkill, which is the last thing the game needs. I don’t like the idea of having guest teams as we already have the ‘Champions League of Cricket’ but I’m not opposed to having teams like Ireland or a Minor Counties side partaking full time. They could also take to staging two or three games per day, per venue with the chance to buy tickets for 1,2 or all 3 games. This would help to have a better flow of people around the grounds, as well help to reduce the fixture congestion.
I feel that with the restructuring I’ve outlined (admittedly, the biggest focus has been on the 4 day game but it’s the hardest one to include) we could cut about a month off the current length of the season without reducing the standard or integrity of the game. This in turn would allow a later start, open a window for the IPL and also (in theory) avoid some of the bad weather that is associated with starting in April or early May.
Again, you’ve heard (seen) my views on the matter, so I’d love to hear yours. No matter how radical or otherwise, post them up and let’s see if we can’t sort the game out!