English T20 tournament needs revamp
As the Friends Life t20 season nears its end this year, Paul Newman, writing in the Daily Mail , analyses why the tournament has failed to sustain the popularity that it had gained in its early years.
Abhishek Mukherjee
25-Feb-2013
As the Friends Life t20 season nears its end this year, Paul Newman, writing in the Daily Mail, analyses why the tournament has failed to sustain the popularity that it had gained in its early years.
During one of this year’s many rain breaks the other week, Sky showed a re-run of the 2008 Twenty20 final at the Rose Bowl when I reckon the ‘new’ format was very much at its peak. There was a cracking final between Kent and Middlesex. Bumble at his absolute best on the mic, Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame sitting with the players in the dug-out and a young lad dancing in the stands who was to become something of a symbol of all that was good about Twenty20.
It has been downhill since then. There are many reasons for that. Too many games, of course. Counties playing their matches too closely together — this year Surrey, for example, played four games in a week and then had a week off — and a bonkers schedule and start times.