Mainly for UK forummers. The Domestic Game in England (and Wales) sorry Smerky

I know most of you don't give rat's arse about the domestic game,but you have to realise that unless it is vibrant and successful, the sport we love is farked in this country.

The ECB have proposed (yet another ) restructuring which involves fewer championship games - including a lopsided fixture list for the lower of the 2 divisions and a move away from Friday nights being devoted to T20 despite attendances being 10% upon last year (in a less than stellar summer).

These proposals will,in my opinion will lead to the wrecking of the domestic game and the ultimate emergence of a franchise /city based structure which,I think, will result in fewer people watching the game and fewer people taking it up. Cricket will then die as a spectator sport.

Well?

What's the thinking behind lowering the number of championship games? Is it supposed to raise the standard?

It's hard not to feel like the game is doomed when the people charged with curating it make consistently questionable, to be charitable, decisions. It would be hard enough for what is frankly a bizarre and anachronistic pastime to survive the ravages of the modern world even with a principled and forward looking management, which it seems like we do not have.

Basil wrote:These proposals will,in my opinion will lead to the wrecking of the domestic game and the ultimate emergence of a franchise /city based structure which,I think, will result in fewer people watching the game and fewer people taking it up. Cricket will then die as a spectator sport.

you mean we might have a decent chance in some future ashes tour? i might be able to live with that

Dunno ETG ....... aren't CA buggering up your own domestic game in their own way?

I'm torn. The cCounties don't want any change, and they say their fans are quite happy with the T20 competition as it is. For example. many Yorkshire fans have said they will NEVER come to watch and support a Leeds T20 team. Because they're not Leeds, they're Yorkshire etc etc.

Is this a sign that things are fine as they are? Or are there potentially MORE fans out there that could be attracted to cricket through T20 if things are 'sexed-up' a bit in the form of a City-based T20 tournament modelled on Australia's Big Bash?

The battle seems to be cricket's traditional supporters vs a new market.

Where does the greater reward ultimately lie? To alienate the current supporters? Or to bring in a (hopefully) greater amount of new ones? Can there be a compromise so that both can be attracted to games?

Growler wrote:Dunno ETG ....... aren't CA buggering up your own domestic game in their own way?

I would add the new SA domestic quotas to buggering up the domestic game.

I don't think they understand how cricket is perceived in England. In my experience, people who aren't interested in cricket actually dislike it, it's more than just indifference or disinterest towards it. I'm not sure there are that many potential converts.

Basil wrote:I know most of you don't give rat's arse about the domestic game,but you have to realise that unless it is vibrant and successful, the sport we love is farked in this country.

The ECB have proposed (yet another ) restructuring which involves fewer championship games - including a lopsided fixture list for the lower of the 2 divisions and a move away from Friday nights being devoted to T20 despite attendances being 10% upon last year (in a less than stellar summer).

These proposals will,in my opinion will lead to the wrecking of the domestic game and the ultimate emergence of a franchise /city based structure which,I think, will result in fewer people watching the game and fewer people taking it up. Cricket will then die as a spectator sport.

Well?

What state is the domestic county game in - in terms of its financial health? Do counties make money on their 4 day county fixtures or not? Last time I went to a game, a few years ago mind, it was desultory. Not a lot of people, not much of an atmosphere and therefore it held no appeal for me to return to do it again. From the odd times I 've seen bits of 4 dayers on TV the attendance seems pretty thin and the cricket pretty dull.

Your contention is interesting - i.e. the good health of the domestic county game being pivotal to the ongoing success (or indeed survival) of cricket. I'm sure that thought could be debated, discussed and challenged.

Fewer games could be a good thing - if those games could be played with greater intensity. The involvement of some 'star' players could certainly help in that regard. I'm thinking back to the 80s (and no doubt before that) when counties rountinely had 1 or 2 world class players in the team. Somerset - Viv and Joel Garner. Notts - Hadlee and Rice. etc.etc. Now if counties could call upon those types (although not sure how they can compete with the ridiculously over-stuffed international calendar and the money that other comps offer the top guys) then that would help sell tickets and also hopefully help elevate the standards of those around them, making it an altogether more interesting proposition.

The development of a city/franchise model might not signal the end of the game per se - but it could lead to the demise of the current county model and certainly smaller counties, with small or no metropolitan audience, could just disapper from the scene. I'd guess that as long as England has a team that there will always be an audience willing to pay to see it, as well as generations of kids keen to play it.

Don't despair just yet Basil.

Klämmssøn wrote:I don't think they understand how cricket is perceived in England. In my experience, people who aren't interested in cricket actually dislike it, it's more than just indifference or disinterest towards it. I'm not sure there are that many potential converts.

My experience too Klam, but only to a point ....... true for the long game, even the 50 over format to some degree. Hack & bash though, will grab some peoples attention with the big hitting. They do dislike the "boredom factor" of longer cricket.

That said though, passing off T20 as cricket is kind of like asserting that a bum-holes, bollocks & fcucked-up bits off the floor dogburger is the equivalent of a prime topside roast isn't it ?

Growler wrote:My experience too Klam, but only to a point ....... true for the long game, even the 50 over format to some degree. Hack & bash though, will grab some peoples attention with the big hitting. They do dislike the "boredom factor" of longer cricket.

That said though, passing off T20 as cricket is kind of like asserting that a bum-holes, bollocks & fcucked-up bits off the floor dogburger is the equivalent of a prime topside roast isn't it ?

I do enjoy a Rustlers burger occasionally .

There is some vague interest in an England T20, perhaps, but I'd be surprised if they actually attend or watch it all on TV if not already a cricket fan. But the interest is because it is England more than because it is cricket, I think.

I don't live in or near a first-class county, so maybe there is a bit less interest anyway. No one supports the minor county team.

Aye, I've had rustlers now and again, and they're not the worst by a long way.

IMO, if we want a successful Test team, we need a domestic 4-day competition, in which potential test players can learn to play cricket on changing pitches and conditions, and how to build an innings, have the patience to "tough it out" so to speak.

Now, it's a given that that format will never be commercially viable in isolation, and therefore must be subsidised by other income streams within the game ( test receipts, TV revenue, advertising etc.) I can't see how moving from a county based structure to any other form of administration will change that basic premise other than isolating a good few of the current supporters.

Other sports governing bodies share out  revenue from such as TV down to the clubs (including PL footy clubs), and even lower to grassroots level. In  individual/non-team sports such as athletics, swimming, rowing/sailing etc the money often funds specific athletes at the elite level for training etc. To me, the first class counties getting help from the ECB is no different.

Put it this way ....... who ever paid their hard-earned to watch Sir Steve Redgrave pumping weights in the gym 3 hours a day 6 days a week, for example? Nobody, of course - but obviously that training was needed to win his gold medals, and he needed an income to pay his bills. I'd compare 4-day county cricket to that scenario ..... essential for ultimate success.

Does it make sense, I know I've rambled a bit here .....

County cricket needs more foreigners

taipan wrote:

Growler wrote:Dunno ETG ....... aren't CA buggering up your own domestic game in their own way?

I would add the new SA domestic quotas to buggering up the domestic game.

another race to the bottom

seems the best thing we could do for the game is to eliminate all the current administration and management groups and start over again