Oh look - the ECB have just voted in T20 overkill in England

I don't care personally. I'm not touching it with a barge-pole regardless of the setup, teams, players, money, et cetera. It seems like nothing more than a big ink-stain on my cricketing calendar from afar.

All I can find is that it's held during the month of June.

We should have a T20 for Second XIs and youth teams too.

And one for forummers. Directly financed by Stanford.

JKLever wrote:All I can find is that it's held during the month of June.

No football: there's a clue for you - not that TV schedules are driving this at all. Of course not. No way. Never in a million years.

Basil wrote:

JKLever wrote:All I can find is that it's held during the month of June.

No football: there's a clue for you - not that TV schedules are driving this at all. Of course not. No way. Never in a million years.

Catering to the footie brigade huh. We'll have cricket hoolies before we know it!

JKLever wrote:

Basil wrote:

JKLever wrote:All I can find is that it's held during the month of June.

No football: there's a clue for you - not that TV schedules are driving this at all. Of course not. No way. Never in a million years.

Catering to the footie brigade huh. We'll have cricket hoolies before we know it!

It's the TV companies that are driving this - they want cricket Tuesday to Friday and on Sundays particularly during June and July. I'm told that Saturday is a no no as far as TV is concerned (and clubs apparently) because people are doing silly things like doing stuff with their families

There will be copious amounts of overseas players too per side.

As with the IPL, it can get farked if it at all interferes with our domestic test program or the strength of teams that tour here...

The most important thing is that the present County Championship format has been retained, which is crucial for the future of the England Test team, and we also still have a decent 50-over competition to mirror that form of international cricket.

Remains to be seen how two T20 competitions will work, but the new EPL is clearly designed to be short and fit in with the international calendar to attract both England stars and top overseas players. There shouldn't be that many extra games overall. I hope we maintain a knockout element and a winner-takes-all final in at least one of the T20 competitions.

As for the 40-over game, in a way it's sad to see it go as that's the game which introduced me to going to county cricket - but T20 has now taken its place as the crowd-pulling format and based on what we've seen the last couple of days the pace of it just seems so pedestrian compared to the shorter form now. It's got no relevance to international cricket, not sure the teams are sure how to approach it really and it hasn't had much purpose since they took it away from being played exclusively on Sundays.

Aye - I grew up watching JPL Sunday league cricket

There's a danger of T20 being the EPL's poor cousin though with less star players on show - I reckon crowds will get spoilt by the EPL standard in comparison

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7510347.stm

Is it me or does Giles Clarke look and sound like a Sith Lord?

Darth Clarke. Yet another gem for the glossary.

A bit topbottom that one...

Dunno what Topbottom has to do with anything. Hopefully his back will be better for Friday though.

JKLever wrote:There will be copious amounts of overseas players too per side.

At least two Indian players per side to encourage TV coverage on the sub-continent.

Who do people think the two overseas sides should be?

I'm voting for the New York Yankees and the Swedish Beach Volleyball team.

Congrats to the ECB on this sterling initiative. The more t20, the sooner, the better. Let's get it to global saturation point so the ADD generatiopn realise it's rubbish and the dollars stop pouring in so we can get back to the serious business of Test cricket.

A second-class competition

Anyone who truly believed Twenty20 cricket would be the vehicle to drive English cricket into the 21st century clearly forgot one crucial factor - the reactionary gentlefolk of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who have not yet progressed from the 19th. Wednesday's unveiling of the English Premier League was a squib as damp as those that spluttered on the Lord's outfield at the opening of the 1999 World Cup. The vested interests in the shires have snuffed out the greatest opportunity for change that the English game has ever known.

Zat wrote:Congrats to the ECB on this sterling initiative. The more t20, the sooner, the better. Let's get it to global saturation point so the ADD generatiopn realise it's rubbish and the dollars stop pouring in so we can get back to the serious business of Test cricket.

Sage.

The One wrote:A second-class competition

Anyone who truly believed Twenty20 cricket would be the vehicle to drive English cricket into the 21st century clearly forgot one crucial factor - the reactionary gentlefolk of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who have not yet progressed from the 19th. Wednesday's unveiling of the English Premier League was a squib as damp as those that spluttered on the Lord's outfield at the opening of the 1999 World Cup. The vested interests in the shires have snuffed out the greatest opportunity for change that the English game has ever known.

Your concern for the English game is noted - albeit with great amusement.

I do think the ECB missed a trick here and all they have done is add a couple of overseas players to each line up, a couple of teams that no one will GAF about, and provided the English public with 3 months of T20.

Typical hash of a situation to make a quick buck really!

Depends just how much cash the counties are going to be given for this EPL.

Could be a really damp squib - the likes of Symonds isn't going to come here for 10 times less than the IPL is filling his bank account for.

I guess this is where the talk of big sponsorship coming into the game.

Marconi Essex Eagles anyone?

There should be a rule stating that no one from someone whose team is touring that year can play that season IMO.

Merlin wrote:

The One wrote:A second-class competition

Anyone who truly believed Twenty20 cricket would be the vehicle to drive English cricket into the 21st century clearly forgot one crucial factor - the reactionary gentlefolk of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who have not yet progressed from the 19th. Wednesday's unveiling of the English Premier League was a squib as damp as those that spluttered on the Lord's outfield at the opening of the 1999 World Cup. The vested interests in the shires have snuffed out the greatest opportunity for change that the English game has ever known.

Your concern for the English game is noted - albeit with great amusement.

lol! love the defense mechanism. the article is not written by me and this is a cricket forum innit? or do you just stick to england threads?

the article speaks the truth. england had a great chance to change things for the future, but they didnt

We need the BCCI and India to save us!!!!!

India! IndiA! IndIA! INDIA!!! Oh India, you're so fine - you're so fine you blow my mind hey India. Hey India!

To be honest I don't see how the structure of 18 counties can ever be changed.

It would effectively require over half of them to give up first class status...

As they say - Turkeys don't vote for Xmas

Brass Monkey wrote:We need the BCCI and India to save us!!!!!

India! IndiA! IndIA! INDIA!!! Oh India, you're so fine - you're so fine you blow my mind hey India. Hey India!

As Nasser said on Sky last night - what was actually wrong with the system how it was?

Keep the original T20 and county championship, keep the 50 over comp and ditch the pro40 to allow better practice time.

JKLever wrote:
As Nasser said on Sky last night - what was actually wrong with the system how it was?

Keep the original T20 and county championship, keep the 50 over comp and ditch the pro40 to allow better practice time.

Who knows Lever. Well, Giles 'MoneyMan' Clarke does. To risk the blitherings of Geoffrey Trueman, he could well have promised this freakshow as part of the 'sealer' to vote him in. I can envisage it just getting worse.

But who'll care? Not the counties.