New-look English Twenty20 agreed

[Pete the Wolf]

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/7510080.stm

English cricket is to be given a major overhaul with a new Twenty20 English Premier League to start in 2010.

The EPL will have two divisions of 10 teams featuring the 18 existing counties plus two overseas teams.

A radical proposal by David Stewart and Keith Bradshaw, which would have left out half of the counties, was rejected by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The Pro40 will be scrapped after 2009, allowing for a total overhaul of club cricket in England.

The board also agreed the 2010 season would include a 50-over competition and 16 County Championship matches in a two-division structure.

The introduction of the EPL follows the successful debut of the Indian Premier League, which has stimulated huge interest and offers the ECB the potential of attracting more television revenue.

The lucrative IPL and its unsanctioned rival, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), has seen Twenty20 cricket dominate the cricket headlines in recent months.

In order not to be left behind, England agreed a five-year deal worth £50m with businessman Sir Allen Stanford where they will play a winner-takes-all Twenty20 match each year in the Caribbean.

In June the ECB along with the Indian, Australian and South African governing bodies unveiled plans for a Twenty20 Champions League tournament.

"I am delighted that the board unanimously supported these creative proposals," ECB chairman Giles Clarke said of the the domestic game's restructure.

"I would like to congratulate everyone for their hard work and thank those who went to considerable time and trouble to produce documents for discussion."

The latest overhaul of the English game is based on market research that suggested fans wanted to watch more Twenty20 cricket.

The EPL will be staged in June, while there will be a Twenty20 League, replacing the Pro40, in July, August and September, with games to be staged primarily on Friday nights.

"How much 20 overs cricket do people want to watch?" BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We don't know who the overseas teams will be, but one might be Allen Stanford's and we don't know how many overseas players each county will be allowed to have.

"I suspect there will be four overseas players allowed in each squad to freshen it up.

"There is a danger of having two Twenty20 competitions, looking much the same, trundling along next to each other.

"If Twenty20 cricket is managed carefully it can bankroll cricket for decades. But if it is flogged to death it will all to quickly disappear. This cuts it pretty fine."

Although the ECB rejected Stewart and Bradshaw's franchise idea, it did take on board some of their funding proposals.

Surrey chairman Stewart said: "These are extremely exciting and satisfying proposals for the future of domestic cricket in England and Wales. I am delighted to support them.

"They incorporate some excellent ideas and Keith Bradshaw (MCC chief executive) and I were delighted to be able to submit our ideas as part of the decision making process and to build on the robust structure proposed by ECB as a result of detailed consultations undertaken."

Okay, so there's now TWO Twenty20 tournaments going on. Saturation approaches?

[Roaster©®™]

EPL is English Premier League - so why the fuck are two State sides from Australia and South Africa being mentioned as being able to partake?

My other concerns are:-

2 divisions of 9 teams - how will the first league memberships be determined; major concern being in which division the foreign based teams start

Foreign players - Division 1 can use 3 or 4 overseas players and Division 2 can use 2 or 3 overseas players (to me that straight away stinks of elitism and more money being available to Div 1 teams)

If above is true - and an Aussie State side is playing in the EPL aren't they automatically infingeing that rule - unless they play with 7 or 8 English players

How the fuck does this fit into the English Test Summer - surely the paying fans will want to see the England Stars lined up in their County sides - especially against the Aussie side (who could well field 4 or 5 Aussie test stars)

TV audiences are potentially huge (especially in the Asian sub-continent) but I bet the paying English crowd will have to stump up over the odds for admission and the EPL will milk domestic TV stations for most of the money. Stick it on Pay per View and the format will crash and burn!

AND - if the ECB can get away with enforcing the numbers of overseas players allowed in each format of the domestic game - why the fuck can't that rule be applied and un-contested legally within the English Football League?

[CHOPPER READ]

Loads of thought gone into this one. No wonder Warney wasn't too impressed by it.

[Pete the Wolf]

I'm wondering where the two foreign sides would play as well. They've gotta play at major Test grounds I suppose, but then that would reduce the recovery period of the batting strips between matches, meaning that surely their host counties will have to re-locate some of their own home matchesfor the benefit of said foreign teams. Although to be fair, Warwickshire do aim to play at least one CC match a season in Stratford, so that could tie in nicely. However, I'd suspect that it would be Middlesex and Sussex, allowing the overseas teams to be based at Lords and The Oval respectively.

With regards to the initial league selection for the Twenty20, given that this seems to be rising from the flames of Pro40, I suspect that the initial leagues will stem from the final Pro40 positions next year. The two overseas sides will most probably start in the top division. I can't them being invited halfway round the world, only to be told they're at the bottom.

Where'd you get the overseas player quota from? Can't see it anywhere. But if so, that's just gonna strangle some of the English talent. Get promising kids through and then kick them out in favour of bringing in internationals. Will no doubt improve the quality of the side, but will run the risk of sending English Twenty20 the same way as football here.

No idea how it fits into the Test match arena, but the Test match already seems to be dying out. What was it against India last summer? Two tests and seven ODIs? The long matches are the foundation of cricket and I'd prefer to see Warwickshire and England ranked as the best sides in the long version as opposed to limited overs.

Yup, tickets won't be cheap, but it's also too much to hope that it'll be on domestic tv I imagine unless the Government put it on their 'protected' list. Sky will outbid terrestrial comfortably. Can't say I'm bothered as I've made my opinions clear on Twenty20 in the past. Although I should really watch a game before being so dismissive of it.

According to one report I read, English counties rely on ECB funding just to break even. I doubt they've got the money to launch a challenge on the scale that the Premier League would.

[Kentucky Kid]

woo more twenty20

[Roaster©®™]

Jul 17, 2008 21:36:18 GMT -1 Pete the Wolf said:

Where'd you get the overseas player quota from? Can't see it anywhere.

Today's Sun -Statement for EPL and proposed Rules

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/cricket/article1431892.ece

And in my Post it should be 2 leagues of 10 (and not 18 as I mistakenly wrote)

As for Test Cricket - wiping the slate clean after over a century of fixtures, the ultimate challenge in the game! Don't think so - don't think the players will let it happen (the reaction between the Aussies and English, Indians and Pakistan).

Another concern - English Summers and weather affect. Both TV and live audiences will be a tad pissed off when they say roll up to Edgbaston (my local venue) to see Queensland take on Warwickshire - only for it to be rained off (1 point each or 5 overs a piece sort of game)!

Yes, paying fans get will a refund / partial refund - but TV viewers (as Sky is only logical winner of any TV right's bidding war) will be mightily pissed (do they do refunds on Pay Per View?) ! Aside from that - it's unikey that the paying fans will get to see a repeat of that match and the players on view at that time!

And - will England as a one-day side see any benefits? The world's top batsmen and bowlers will be obvious selections for the county sides - how about development of up and coming English players.