| Series | Countries | Live Scores | Fixtures | Results | News |
Features
|
Photos | Blogs | Statistics | Archive | Video & Audio | Games | Mobile | |||||||||||||||||||||
County Cricket 2009 / News
- County Cricket 2009 home
- |
- News
- |
- Features
- |
- Photos
- |
- Counties
- |
- Squads
- |
- Competitions
- |
- Fixtures
- |
- Results
- |
- Tables
- |
- Statistics
- |
- Rankings
- |
- 2010 Season
|
English domestic revamp
Counties could scrap 50-over cricket
Cricinfo staff
July 29, 2009
|
|||
|
Related Links
Series/Tournaments:
England Domestic Season
Teams:
England
|
|||
The English domestic game may not include 50-over cricket from next year after the ECB unveiled plans for a revamped county structure involving three competitions. The 16-match four-day Championship has been retained alongside an expanded Twenty20 tournament, but the format for the third competition has yet to be decided and could involve some radical new concepts including two-innings 40-over matches
"The ECB feel there is a worldwide desire to find a way of reinvigorating and revitalising the 50 over game," a statement said. "The game has experimented with power plays and super subs and now ECB, along with other countries, have decided to explore new options. Research tells ECB this is something the spectators and counties want to see happen. One option being considered is a 40-over concept with two innings per side with no limitations on bowlers."
The new structure will also mean an end to Test matches being staged in May after a series poorly attended series, including this year's two-Test series against West Indies at Lord's and Chester-le-Street. "We all recognise that there is little appetite for Test match cricket in early May and this structure allows us to play Tests in June, July and August," Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said.
The three-tournament domestic structure had been expected, but not the potential scrapping of 50-over matches which is currently played under the Friends Provident Trophy banner. It creates the situation where England will continue to play one-day internationals but without a format to replicate that in the domestic game. It is often a criticism that England's players are not well prepared for 50-over cricket. Now they will not be prepared at all, while those trying to force their way in won't be able to impress in a competition that mirrors international cricket.
"The ECB is committed to 50-over cricket at international level with a total of 13 ODIs against Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan as well as an extended programme of England Lions 50-over games," the statement added. "These matches, along with those played in Australia in the winter of 2010-11, will provide the practice required for the ICC World Cup in early 2011."
The ECB said this new tournament would revive the Sunday League which became a regular part of the fixture list during the 1970s, 80s and 90s and was popular with supporters as it guaranteed them weekend action.
After suggestions that the Championship would be cut back to make way for more Twenty20 cricket the four-day tournament will remain intact, while Twenty20 - branded under the P20 name - will become two pools of nine teams split along north-south lines to retain the derby element.
"We canvassed a wide range of opinion and everyone was behind the principle of the primacy of Test match and County Championship cricket," Clarke said. "It is important that the County Championship structure is maintained to support the Test team.
"We have also listened to the spectators and counties alike about the structure and the consensus was for Twenty20 cricket to be played in June and July with a final later in the season with the qualification matches primarily at weekends."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
|
What do think of the plans for English domestic cricket?
| ||||||
| Comments have now been closed for this article |
||||||
TopE-mail
Feedback
Print
ESPNcricinfo staff
County Results
Lancashire v Warwickshire at Manchester
- Sep 27, 2009
Warwickshire won by 3 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
All recent results »
Warwickshire won by 3 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
Sponsored Links
Access your Indian Rupee earnings from anywhere in the world.
ICICI Bank Money2India brings " locked exchange rate" and a free gift
on registering and transfer of USD 250 and above.
FREE copy of Playfair with every Wisden pre-order
At Cricshop.com
End the 50 over game at international level too, it's the dullest format. A return to 40 over Sunday afternoon matches should be applauded, but not sure about splitting them into two innings. How about a pure and simple FA Cup style competition involving the counties and all the European associates?
Posted by Paul_JT on (July 30 2009, 12:04 PM GMT)Full credit to the ECB, they are (even if it is be default) moving in the right direction. Scrapping 50-over is a marvellous idea. The format is not working. Hopefully there will be quarter finals within the North/South structure, learning the lessons of the 2006 C&G/2007 FPT. I won't miss the Lord's Final. Twenty20 Finals Day is now the domestic blue ribbon event provided it continues to include 4 teams. There isn't much wrong with the present Pro40, except the acknowledged problem of not enough Sunday fixtures. I'd like to see this retained with a few changes; fielding restrictions reduced to the first 12-overs, playoff abandoned altogether in place of 3-up, 3-down - would save a weekend in the schedule. A new structure for the Sunday League would be change for the sake of it.
Posted by NedB-H on (July 30 2009, 12:03 PM GMT)"Research tells ECB this is something the spectators and counties want to see happen." I guess this is the research the ECB did where they asked fans at T20 games whether they'd like to see more T20... i.e. completely useless research. They are completely clueless. How often do we see a T20 game now where one team wins by 50+ runs, or else with 4 or 5 overs to go? If either of those happened in the first "innings", you'd effectively only have half a game, cos the deficit will never be overturned. Hopeless idea. CC, T20 cup, 50 (or 45) over league, 50 over straight knockout cup. 4 distinct competitions each season. It shouldn't be hard to organise. And if that's too much cricket, merge the two 50 over competitions into something approximating the old B & H cup, with groups of 5 teams and a knockout for the final 8 or 16. What's the problem?
Posted by Oldmanmartin on (July 30 2009, 11:18 AM GMT)What will they call this new tournament? Twenty/40? Presumably they want 3 intervals for more TV ads and revenues. Only the ECB ... I agree with home Tests being restricted to June, July and August, but with effectively 12 weeks available how will we fit in the 6-7 home Tests apparently required by the proposed 2012-2020 ICC Future Tours Programme? More back-to-back Tests, obviously. Who'd be an England quickie?
Posted by davidmoz on (July 30 2009, 08:15 AM GMT)"We're living a very busy 21st century's life-style, so we need some more adrenaline in the cricket also." AND "make 5 balls per over (to comply with metric system for simplified counting- 100 balls per innings". Come on! Five ball overs??? LEAVE CRICKET AS IT IS! And one of the things I enjoy about cricket is it can be relaxing AND exciting to watch- 21st century life is, as you say, fast-paced, so having something which you can watch and unwind to is no bad thing in my book. But instead, it seems we have to dumb down cricket into some kind of cheap, Americanised for to make it exciting for the masses.
Posted by theoxlades on (July 30 2009, 06:07 AM GMT)These are indeed dark days for English cricket - and there appears to be an easy solution to the problems of cricket overload and dwindling interest in the 50 over game. I propose a return to the 'FA Cup of Cricket' format of the Gilette Cup/Natwest Trophy/C&G Cup/FP Trophy, with the 20 minor counties, the 4 major cricketing universities (Oxford, Cambridge, Durham & Loughborough), Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and Holland taking part in a randomly drawn first round. The winning 14 teams would then progress to the second round where the first-class would be entered into the draw. All ties would be randomly drawn and the competition would be a straight knock out, with matches held on Saturday with two or three floodlit for the TV cameras, to the Lord's final on the last day of the season. This format would benefit from the fact that every game matters, meaning greater interest, higher TV viewing figures and greater exposure for the minor counties.
Posted by SpottedHyena on (July 30 2009, 00:03 AM GMT)Best idea in years. Get rid of all the rubbish - not like anyone wants to watch it anyway. As for the argument about England not being prepared for 50 overs - well quite frankly they are (have always been) useless at it and they play by far the most of it at first class level. South Africa doesn't even have a 50 over tournament and they are the best at it. I can't wait for this two innings a side business and removing the limits on bowlers will make it much more even. Then again this must be some kind of dream - the dinosaurs at the ECB surely can't pull this off...
Posted by AARON.IFTEKHAR on (July 29 2009, 23:26 PM GMT)If "the ECB feel there is a worldwide desire to find a way of reinvigorating and revitalising the 50 over game," I think the better option for consideration will be a 20-over concept with two innings per side with no limitations on bowlers. Such kind of an One Day match of 4 sessions with a mixing taste of Twenty20 & test cricket is ideal for whole sunday. Just keep Twenty 20 cricket or P20 tournament for saturday afternoon & evening (if possible, aftenoon for the women's & evening for the man's cricket). I think then we'll enjoy our favorite cricket more both by attending in the stadium & by watching in TV with a glass of bear. We're living a very busy 21st century's life-style, so we need some more adrenaline in the cricket also.
Posted by John_Firth on (July 29 2009, 23:21 PM GMT)How can the ECB claim to be committed to 50-over cricket at an international level if they completely remove the domestic version of it? How do you get used to building an innings if you aren't playing 50 overs? How do you plan a bowling attack if you've not been using the same restrictions? You'd be going in blind. All about money, it seems, and less about the actual game. How do they expect England to ever win the World Cup now?
Posted by davidmoz on (July 29 2009, 22:10 PM GMT)Right...so the ECB might scrap 50 over cricket, meaning a) we lose the joy of a Lord's final, which all counties look forward to the prospect of (and this is after they already ditched the Minor Counties for the FPT and took away that 'FA Cup of cricket' feel it had), meaning while our international players still have to play lots of ODIs, our domestic game will have no 50 over competition. If, as they keep saying, the whole point of the domestic set-up is to benefit England, HOW will this do it???