English Domestic Cricket Revamp

[Ollie_H]

Among the ideas being mooted are, according to today's Guardian, a 21-team Twenty20 league and a revamped Pro40 competition of two 20-over innings per side, as well as a return to the three-day Championship. Perhaps most notable is the plan to divide the Championship into three conferences, with southern, midland and northern divisions.

Full Article; ECB ponder radical domestic changes

Personally however much I love the thought of a Two Innings 20-20 it is not a good idea! This brings in the factor of entertainment and not actually cricket. Also 3 day Championship then means even more draws than we already have.

 

[Kev]

Stupid knee-jerk reactionary talk. The Championship is the breeding ground for test cricket, the current divisional structure works well. I watch a lot of Div1 cricket and some Div2 cricket and the difference in quality is quite marked, why ruin that by introducing yet another regional format (we already have that in T20 and now in FPT). Spectators will flock away in droves if thats introduced (not that there are loads to start with). Mess with the championship at your peril ECB, your national side will be even weaker as a consequence.

As for Pro40, much as I like it, if there is to be a change then this is the place to do it. But don't do anything stupid like 2x 20 overs. T20 brings in the crowds because the game is short and apparently people like short games (not me!). If you have 4 innings of 20 overs it will actually take longer to play than it currently does, with the extra breaks it would probably take as long to play as a 50 over match.

Here's what should happen.

Championship matches - 4 days but take place in the week.

50 over competition - Back to the cup format rather than the league, but perhaps with home and away ties. If possible play more day/night matches.

T20 - Expanded tournament replacing pro40. Start times MUST be pushed back later than 5:30 if played in the week! Replace regional format with league system.

It's not radical, but if you mess with years of tradition without thought and motivated purely by money you'll wreck the entire system.

 

[Sureshot]

Regional championships? I like Sussex to play teams other than those in the South.

I agree with everything Kev has said. Biggest change needed is the ruling on Kolpk players, young England players must be given a chance in games.

 

[Kev]

I think the problem with Kolpak players is they are treated differently to Overseas players. The problem is with the employment rights. I'm no expert but I would think the following would be legal.

Teams can employ as many Kolpak and Overseas players as they want but they must field 8 England Qualified players each match. That way Kolpaks get their equal employment rights as they don't have to play. Richer clubs will be able to afford a few extra kolpak/overseas players but its doubtful they'd want to.

 

[lancashire666]

Kolpak players really grind my gears, the county teams get a share of money from the ECB, which is shurly for them to use to run the team and for the good of the english game, how can giving loads of south africans experience and cash over bringing through young english players be good for the english game!

 

[Sureshot]

I think some Kolpak's have a place in the game. I have no problems with the likes of Ryan McLaren (who wants to play for England), Lance Klusener, whose international experience is very good for a dressing room. But we do see some really crap players, who aren't better than the English players available.

 

[lancashire666]

im not saying stop kolpak players, far from it, Law has been wonderful at Lancashire and really helped the young players in the team, but a limit on number of kolpak players would be something id like to see

 

[Kev]

Clubs do actually lose money each time they field a Kolpak. As the amount they recieve from the ECB does depend on the amount of English qualified players they field. I think in effect they lose just over £1000 per game per player.

 

[MUFC1987]

I don't see the point in messing with the CC. As Kev (I think) said, its here that we're going to find players good enough for Test Cricket, to shorten it even further would lower the skill both physically and mentally in my opinion.

The FP Trophy is fine as it is, as is the Twenty20 in my view. I like both having Quarter finals as it means rain doesn't affect group games as much.

I also like the 40 over stuff though. I mean its the only one day comp we have where teams from the North and the South play each other without having to be good enough to reach the latter stages of competitions.

In short I'm totally against a huge revamp and I'm not sure what 'tweaking' could be done to make it better in my view.

 

[angryangy]

im not saying stop kolpak players, far from it, Law has been wonderful at Lancashire and really helped the young players in the team, but a limit on number of kolpak players would be something id like to see

Law is English now, how can he be a kolpak?

 

[Kev]

Not to mention the fact that he (is/was*) Australian


*delete as applicable

 

[Kev]

Maybe the ECB need to team up with FIFA if they want to get the Kolpak situation sorted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7421348.stm

It's interesting how the EU are saying restricting foreign players is illegal but they back the home-grown rule. Perhaps that's the way forward for cricket. I must say I really like the idea of seeing local players play for their county again.