Gather around folks, it is now time for me to make my preseason announcement regarding the future of the league and all the new changes that have been implemented moving forward.
TWENTY20 CRICKET
The biggest, most obvious change is the official inclusion of the new Twenty20 format. Nations can officially play T20I matches in the FTP calendar,
and host their own domestic T20 tournaments.
T20 Tournaments
Domestic T20 tournaments will run similarly to domestic First-Class and List A tournaments, which is, they will not be allowed a franchise model with 4-8 overseas players in the squad. That will hopefully come later on, in the next FTP Cycle probably. They have to abide by all of the rules you need to abide by to run domestic leagues. Upgrades will also be awarded similar to how they are with the other two formats. And each country will only be allowed one domestic T20 tournament per year.
Rankings
Much like the ODI and Test rankings, the T20I rankings that have been newly introduced will start off by having much more flexible eligibility rules. As soon as enough players reach the standardized eligibility rules, they will be updated to 500 runs + 10 completed innings for batters, and 25 wickets +
100 50 overs bowled for bowlers.
While on the subject of rankings, I should re-mention the fact that individual player rankings from the time period where they were not being updated monthly have been nullified.
Ratings
I'll be using PCCS to sim official T20 matches, but since it's a simulator I'm just not as familiar with as I am with the Cricksim, I'm still tinkering and experimenting with the ratings system. I urge everyone to devise their own system, because I will not be publicizing it until I feel comfortable enough to do so. Could be a month into the FTP season, or could be at the end of it. Depends entirely on the results I get as we move along.
2003 FTP CALENDAR
It's the World Cup year, finally. As a gift(?) of sorts, I've decided to remove the overall restriction on the calendar and allow nations a chance to utilize all of their slots. Which, for this year, have also been increased to
15 slots per nation.
Tours
The
types of tours available have also been modified following the introduction of the T20 format. I don't want T20 to takeover quite as yet, so I've made sure that no tour ever consists of more than three T20Is. Also, limited-overs' triangular series now take up one slot less.
CLUB WORLD CUP
We will indeed be having a Club World Cup in September, the hosts of which will be decided by me. I really don't want to conduct voting for a tournament in the current FTP Cycle now that it's nearing its end. Obviously, the country hosting the tournament receives a ratings buff and a second entrant, so I will not be making this choice on a whim.
FUTURE OF THE LEAGUE
The MOST IMPORTANT announcement I have to make is regarding the future of the league. It is
quite likely, though not confirmed, that the league will go into a hiatus following the end of the season/Cricket World Cup. I have been running this league non-stop for the last two years. It is the one thing that has remained a constant in my life for the last two years, and while running it has been the most fun I've ever had on the forums running any leagues, I do feel extremely burnt out by it. I wish to complete the calendar I set out to complete at the start of the league, so I march on. But I do feel like a break, probably a prolonged one, is imminent once the season ends with the Cricket World Cup.
There have been a lot of things that have been pitched to be introduced to the league in the next cycle, like player retirements, and a T20 franchise-league model etc., things that all need to be worked out completely because I haven't a clue about how to go about these things at the moment. That, coupled with a general break I require, does mean that I'll be putting this on hold, at least for the foreseeable future.
I obviously like to thank every single person who has devoted their energy and time to this league, and I do promise that it will one day be back again, and in all its glory. But not immediately after 2003 ends.
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