23-11-2016, 22:37
(This post was last modified: 23-11-2016, 22:55 by Ska'dForLife-WBA.)
As I understand it, the basic reasoning is:
Economic: The money that counties currently make from T20 is keeping four-day cricket afloat, which in turn is bringing through new Test cricketers. If that revenue can be increased with an even more high-profile competition (and the mooted deal would see £1.3m per season going to county sides on top of what they make from the T20 Blast), then it's to the overall benefit of the sport.
Cultural: Grow the audience for T20 and you'll increase the interest in one-dayers and Test matches over time too, securing a bright future for the sport as a whole.
Of course, all of this is very much dependent on the new competition being a success, and I think the potential problems you've highlighted there are sound. The genuine existing rivalries in cricket are fantastic: I remember watching the Roses match at Headingley in June 2015 which went down to the final ball, and seeing Worcestershire do the double over Birmingham/Warwickshire this summer was really enjoyable. As I said in my previous posts, I think us Brits are real traditionalists when it comes to sport, and we don't tend to flock to the colours of newly-created teams very enthusiastically, which is one crucial way that we might differ from the Aussies and Indians.
I think my general position is that *if* the new competition could successfully draw in the crowds, and *if* county T20 could continue to survive and even thrive alongside it (maybe starting a few weeks earlier and concluding in July, so they don't overlap), then it could work well. But obviously the word "if" is doing a lot of work in both cases. The potential is definitely there for the Premier League to be a disaster, or alternatively for it to be such a success that county T20 withers and dies in its shadow.
Looking into it a bit more, it seems the ECB have now abandoned the plans for 2018 and are targeting a 2020 start date instead, so whatever happens I've still got a few more happy summers of watching Worcestershire arse everything up
Economic: The money that counties currently make from T20 is keeping four-day cricket afloat, which in turn is bringing through new Test cricketers. If that revenue can be increased with an even more high-profile competition (and the mooted deal would see £1.3m per season going to county sides on top of what they make from the T20 Blast), then it's to the overall benefit of the sport.
Cultural: Grow the audience for T20 and you'll increase the interest in one-dayers and Test matches over time too, securing a bright future for the sport as a whole.
Of course, all of this is very much dependent on the new competition being a success, and I think the potential problems you've highlighted there are sound. The genuine existing rivalries in cricket are fantastic: I remember watching the Roses match at Headingley in June 2015 which went down to the final ball, and seeing Worcestershire do the double over Birmingham/Warwickshire this summer was really enjoyable. As I said in my previous posts, I think us Brits are real traditionalists when it comes to sport, and we don't tend to flock to the colours of newly-created teams very enthusiastically, which is one crucial way that we might differ from the Aussies and Indians.
I think my general position is that *if* the new competition could successfully draw in the crowds, and *if* county T20 could continue to survive and even thrive alongside it (maybe starting a few weeks earlier and concluding in July, so they don't overlap), then it could work well. But obviously the word "if" is doing a lot of work in both cases. The potential is definitely there for the Premier League to be a disaster, or alternatively for it to be such a success that county T20 withers and dies in its shadow.
Looking into it a bit more, it seems the ECB have now abandoned the plans for 2018 and are targeting a 2020 start date instead, so whatever happens I've still got a few more happy summers of watching Worcestershire arse everything up
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley