Blurred Twenty20 vision?
Reacting to the proposal for an Indian Premier League clone in England, Stephen Moss in the Guardian asks: Do we really want to replace the grand narrative of county cricket with mock dramas starring the Headingley Humdingers.
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Reacting to the proposal for an Indian Premier League clone in England, Stephen Moss in the Guardian asks: Do we really want to replace the grand narrative of county cricket with mock dramas starring the Headingley Humdingers.
If and when this English Premier League is launched in 2010, dominating the key cricketing months of June and July, the county championship, which has already been made virtually meaningless by the comings and goings of star players for the odd fortnight, will wither. It will carry on in some form, but in effect it will be a second-eleven competition, a place for the Premier League stars to get some practice and for young players to stake their claim to the big bucks of Twenty20.
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Cricket is a great game because it lasts long enough for character to express itself. Twenty20 allows for no such niceties. Mock drama replaces narrative; money overwhelms love; celebrity usurps true character.
Jonathan Agnew, in the Test Match Special Blog, doesn't believe the franchise system will work in England.
Not only is there no attachment to a team from Birmingham if you live in Leicester, but Twenty20 cricket is so short, that any journey of more than an hour hardly makes the experience worthwhile.
On the same blog, Alec Stewart feels Twenty20s must be given room to breathe, and that the ICC's futures tours committee must try avoiding a situation where Sri Lanka might send a second-string side to tour England.
Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo