A century of T20…..

T20 that isn’t T20? One hundred balls? What on earth is going on?!?

All this T20 heritage being thrown away, after 15 long years, has upset the apple cart once more. One thing’s for sure, the ECB don’t seem to mind getting under the skin of county cricket traditionalists, and even the T20 traditionalists who’ve crawled out of the woodwork since they announced the creation of this tournament last year.

Personally, I’m not having that it’s a ‘new format’, at least no more so than 55 over cricket was after 60 was abolished, or 50 was when 55 was abolished, or 8 ball overs were reduced to 6 etc etc. This is no reinvention of the wheel, its just a slightly shorter match so that kids can be in bed by 9 as we’re obviously not as nocturnal as the Indians. And especially kids whose parents don’t currently like cricket, who let’s face it, is who this tournament is really aimed at. In fact if recent reports are to be believed, we can expect the grounds to be full of mums and babies at this one, will Dads even be allowed in? 😉

It also means England is already ahead of the curve if and when T10 cricket becomes more prominent, because lets face it 10 overs is too short. “Future proofing” seems to be the holy grail of this tournament, and its extremely hard to appease the future without pissing off the past. This idea feels like its aimed at catching the perfect wave between the two, though of course many don’t agree that such a wave even exists. Because it probably doesn’t. And therefore its balls on the line time for the likes of Mr Strauss.

In fact, its hard to see how the ECB could have created more of a reaction on social media with this news, all over a measly 20 balls. Its almost as if they want to create a social media storm, and piss off current cricket fans, to try and get the tournament more talked about. We’re more than 2 years away, and its already making very big headlines. People have asked for radical action in the past, but now they’ve got it, is it the right kind of radical?

Well it might get a new wave of casual fans onside, but you have to assume they at least think they know what they’re doing with regards the rest of us, even if plenty of ‘us’ would currently see the current ECB executed by firing squad. I must admit, even as someone who is deliberately playing devil’s advocate about this tournament against the backdrop of angry social media vibes, and give it a chance, I don’t really understand why it isn’t just 20 x 5 ball overs even if it has to be 100 balls. But ok, I’ll still give it a chance. Even though the obvious 2020/T20 branding opportunities are now basically down the swanny.

In fact, they might as well just bring it forward to 2019 now, at least then all the outrage might die down quicker when the ECB realise they’ve got it all wrong; with current cricket fans hating it and refusing to acknowledge its existence, and all the people who currently hate cricket continuing to hate cricket. At least this is the assertion of many on social media. They may be proved right, but I suspect there’s a fair amount of probability that they won’t, because I standby the idea that this tournament is aimed at people who aren’t even born yet. They’re seemingly attempting to reshape the sport entirely, in order to try and in their minds preserve it, which as I say, is virtually impossible to do without pissing off people who like it just as it is.

Is it greed? Well if it is, this assumes that the tournament will be a roaring success, because if nobody watches it in person or on television, it won’t make anyone any money and be abandoned quicker than you can say ‘Stanford Super Series’.

There have also been calls from former England captain, and current Brown Caps director Alec Stewart, to bring the player draft forward to summer 2019, in order that the counties can plan their busy schedules with the new tournament in mind. A sensible request it seems, but one that doesn’t really seem to be on the ECB’s radar as yet, given that although the rules are being discussed like an open wound, no one is any the wiser on who/what the eight teams will represent and a year doesn’t seem very far away.

I wait patiently for some news on this, whilst picking up the ‘sitty-on-the-fencey’ opinions of England captains new and old like Joe Root and Alastair Cook (the former who stands to benefit from the competition’s creation, the latter who almost certainly won’t).

It seems like players and ex-players are all willing to remain open-minded about the tournament, but is it all just so they can cash in? Even if it is, what can anyone do, the players are the guys playing the sport aren’t they, so of course their preferences and ideas won’t be ignored, whatever anyone says.

As usual, I’m sitting on the fence too about recent revelations, but to keep the traditionalists happy, I will say that this idea of three bowlers bowling the final 10-ball over just seems positively bonkers. There you go fellas….. am I finally turning towards joining you in the anti-camp?

Let’s all play nicely until the next set of ideas are published, we’ve got 2 years until the tournament starts, or approximately 100 weeks. Perhaps we need a countdown? 15 groups of 6 weeks followed by one big 10 week countdown, starting sometime later this year. Once we know who we’re actually supposed to be supporting.

On that score, all I’ll say is this; Random Red Bull Rovers til I die…..

Frankly, Franchise Frankie….

“We’re a sickening wreck, we’ve got the 21^st century, breathing down our necks….” thought the ECB sometime after the franchise cricket fire had finally spread to Australia. Now there was huge success, there, in India and around the world.

The status of test cricket’s importance is under threat, and although many on social media understandably don’t believe more T20 is the way to keep the test fire burning, no one disagrees about the source of the threat.

So is more T20 the way to save test and 4-day cricket? Is it just pouring fuel on the fire? Or is it about nothing but profit? I think it unlikely to be a black and white answer, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but what is certain is that T20 is here to stay and that franchise cricket is coming to these shores, and we can either like it or we can lump it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the vast majority of the new league’s target audience are not yet born. I really don’t believe even the ECB are daft enough to try and turn long standing county members away from their own teams. This is about creating entirely new interest from entirely new demographics in an age where marketing and branding is ever more important, even in the traditional ancient sport of cricket.

I understand the arguments about how Mike and his son James, who live in Geordieland, are not going to trek to Leeds every Friday night to watch a Yorkshire team they hold no identity with, or how Tony and his brother Bill who he normally watches Northants with, are not going to make the journey up to Trent Bridge to support a ‘Midlands’ franchise; it isn’t a fool proof plan and all the demands on social media for “evidence, please!” are simply not going to be fulfilled. It’s a gamble, a big one, with probably very little concrete statistical analysis which would sway anyone, but sometimes gambles pay off and this one is no different. The ECB clearly has an appetite for risk. Is it an unhealthy one?

For a start, this competition is going to host a minimum of only 4 home matches per side. With every game on TV, including some on the BBC, the idea is to create a huge national sporting event over the school holidays mainly aimed at children and casual fans, with a bigger TV viewership of T20 fans around the world.

Each team will have a theoretical geographical catchment of at least 4m-7m, surely big enough to attract 20,000 through the gate 4+ times per summer, but the real aim is to draw a viewing audience of millions for every game from all corners of England, Wales and the gloabl cricket community. This would be quite the opposite of the current county-based T20 Blast, where the aim is to pack the grounds on a frequent basis with localised fans, where most games are not televised.

Dare I wonder that heightened interest in T20 may actually help the T20 Blast? The two tournaments won’t really be competing for airtime, and after all, even if the Blast is the poorer cousin, once you’re bitten by the cricket bug at a young age you usually want more of it.

Will some fans then also migrate to watching red ball cricket? Will it be enough to save it? Who knows, but I suspect we have more time on our hands to find out than the Indians, Kiwis and Caribbeans. England is in the privileged position of being a participant in the Ashes, with few other nations competing in a designated red ball competition bearing such fierce historic rivalry. Even the sub-continental rivalries don’t have to be played out with a red ball like the Ashes do. We at least have some time to suck it and see, even if we missed the T20 franchise boat initially.

Could the new tournament also change the County Championship eventually? Yes, it could. But that’s the point isn’t it? If the current 18-team formula across all 3 formats is king, this will be proven during this ‘experiment’ and the ECB will wind its necks in and the new T20 league with it. But if, from this, there comes a sentiment to streamline the domestic red ball competition to a smaller number of teams (probably branded differently), then won’t that be a good thing as long as domestic cricket is surviving, or maybe even thriving if all goes well?

If it doesn’t work, what really will have been lost? The T20 Blast is not yet being done away with, and might never be, but there’s an undertone of fear on social media buried amongst the passionate views of county loyalists. Whether you support the proposals or not, I don’t see what’s to fear, no one can force anyone to watch or go to anything can they? If the ECB end up embarrassed about the whole thing, the fiercest critics will be able to say ‘I told you so’ long before cricket ceases to exist, and life will go on.

I heard David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd say recently that the more pessimistic cricket fans have been saying cricket is ‘dying’ since he started playing professionally in 1965. I can certainly hear the echo of this sentiment, even if I’m 35 years his junior, and it’s a sentiment as prevalent as ever on social media in light of the ECB’s plans.

Of course, the most likely outcome for the foreseeable future, as the ECB intend at least, is that the new tournament will co-exist alongside the 3 county tournaments, but reach out to a wider audience and act as a supplementary service to the more ‘die-hard’ county based versions of the game. All the ECB need to do is get the branding right (which is admittedly no easy task), so here are my thoughts on the 8 stadium-based franchises, for what they are worth.

 

Rose Bowl

I’m starting with the southern-most franchise because I think the decision to leave Bristol, a pretty big city, as well as the whole of the West Country, without one, is the biggest gamble the ECB have taken in a region where cricket feels pretty big (if not as big as rugby).

I have no doubt at all that few will be travelling from Penzance or even Taunton to Southampton for these matches to support a ‘Southern Storm’ team or whatever. They might watch it on telly, but at least including the term ‘Southern’ in the title doesn’t exclude them. If the ECB do that. The noises so far have suggested no county names, no stadium names and no city names, but they haven’t, to my knowledge, expressly ruled out ‘regions’. Inclusion of the word ‘Southern’ in the name of this franchise is crucial if the team is intended to garner the support of everyone in the south, outside of the home counties.

 

The Oval & Lords

This leads me on nicely to explain how I think the London, South East and Home Counties conundrum needs to be solved. The Lords team will attract support, right? It just will won’t it… because its Lords? The people who live nearby are rich, and even the ones who don’t go to games will be subscribers to Sky and watch it casually after school from their Primrose Hill town houses, on their gold-plated TVs and tablets. Oh and everyone else in London, north of the Thames, will probably support them too. For that reason, you might as well just call this team ‘The Lords’? This would give it a very ‘London’ feel without using the word London in the name, as well as the obvious nod to its ground. Some very obvious branding opportunities, as well as ribbing from other teams, there.

Of course the Oval will be expected to draw fans from South London Boroughs, Surrey, all of Sussex, Kent and anyone else who lives in the South East who doesn’t want to support a team based at Lords (of which there’ll be plenty), which could mean Essex and maybe even the lower parts of first-class cricketless East Anglia.

For this reason, the Oval’s team could do worse than to bear the name ‘South East’ in it, which feels quite all-encompassing for this potentially enormous catchment area. ‘South-East Sixers’? ‘South-East Strikers’? ‘South-East Stars’? I don’t suppose it matters, as long as it doesn’t nod too firmly to Surrey. Yes, some fans will feel alienated by it, even Surrey fans, and angry that a cricket team other than Surrey or England are playing at the Oval, but I never said these proposals would keep everyone happy.

 

Trent Bridge

Now we’re out of the South of England, where the challenges of unification are possibly the largest, its pretty easy to see who everyone else is supposed to support. The Trent Bridge side is meant to represent the whole of the East Midlands NUTS region. Not hard to see why this will leave Derbyshire, Northants and Leicestershire fans feeling a bit uneasy, but in fairness to the ECB there is no way they could all have entered separate teams to this tournament without it becoming pointless. ‘Eastern Express’, or whatever this team is called, may even be able to tap into some of the potential fanbase in the East of England/Norfolk/Cambridgeshire. Like I say, they don’t necessarily have to be travelling to Nottingham from Hunstanton, they just have to watch it on telly. And I doubt the people of Hunstanton are used to watching top-level cricket regularly in the flesh anyway. This is not an unprovoked dig at the people of Hunstanton by the way, its just an example.

 

Edgbaston

Now the official home of domestic T20, for the time being at least, Edgbaston’s team simply has to succeed where the Birmingham Bears has failed, and unite the whole of the West Midlands behind it, including those  with a penchant for Black Pears! Again, not everyone will be on board with this, but at least it will be clear which team represents you if you live in the West Midlands wider region, Shropshire, Hereford & Worcester. You’ve got the Bears of Warwickshire and the Pears of Worcestershire, as well as the Black Country. Maybe they should be called the Black Pear-Bears? Or something. OK….I’m kidding.

 

Cardiff

Well I’m not sticking my neck out in saying this team needs to tap into the whole of Wales, at least in TV viewing figures. And I don’t see any reason why it can’t, I mean Cardiff is the capital, isn’t it? Is there any reason why the people of Flint, Conwy or Anglesey won’t support a Cardiff team representing Wales? Answers on a postcard if I’ve made a gross misjudgement, but I’d have thought the Welsh people outside of Glamorgan would be happy to be represented at all, since there is no Welsh international side.

Of course hardly any of the players will actually be Welsh, so maybe the team shouldn’t be called the ‘Welsh Dragons’, maybe simply ‘The Dragons’ will do. I’m sure we’d all get the picture. I wouldn’t have thought the ECB expect Bristolians and their like to support a Cardiff based side, but who knows?

 

Old Trafford

Lancashire currently has a big following from all over the ancient county of Lancashire, which is most of the North West of England. But in the future, there is a risk that people won’t identify with this in the same way given that Lancashire is basically now just a corridor between the conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester. It feels as though this is beginning to be the case already, and I say this as a resident of Greater Manchester who lives not 5 miles from Old Trafford, in a town that has never been part of Lancashire, but where the ‘Lancashire’ cricket team play in a big stadium in the middle of Manchester, nowhere near modern-day Lancashire.

Any team name mustn’t exclude the people of Merseyside, and there is an opportunity to get Cumbrian and Cheshire support more officially into the fold too. Franchise advocate Bumble recently suggested ‘North West Warriors’ on Twitter, this would probably be as good a suggestion as any to serve this purpose. Alliteration is desirable but not essential, and in any case, its easier to alliterate with a ‘W’ than with an ‘N’ when naming sports team franchises, I’ve discovered. Maybe they’ll just go with ‘North West Lightning’ or even just ‘The Lightning’. I don’t think anyone would be too annoyed about this, since we already know it won’t include the county name.

 

Headingley

OK, here’s the final sticking point. Durham, a county recently in turmoil, not only don’t have a franchise, but the people of the North East are now expected to basically support Yorkshire. This will be easy for the people of Middlesbrough and Redcar, who still identify as Yorkshire folk because of the ceremonial county borders, despite the 50 year administrative severance, but not for the rest of us. I say ‘us’, because the North East is where I grew up, watching Durham play all over the region, and then when the Riverside was built.

And for that reason I can let you into a little secret. The North East is not a cricketing hot bed. Sure, plenty of people watch England, and plenty support Durham, despite much of the region not being, and lots of it having never been, in County Durham.

In fact, I’ve always felt that ‘Durham’ is too specific a name, it doesn’t really grab the identification of the big Newcastle city region, or the younger ‘Teesside’ region (now officially known as the ‘Tees Valley’, plus Darlington). It’s a football area, possibly more exclusively so than anywhere else in England other than Merseyside, and until 1992, the North East didn’t have first class cricket. For this reason, I am not that angry that Durham didn’t get its own franchise, although it might have been nice.

But that doesn’t mean the North East should be forgotten about, I strongly believe the opportunity for potential growth of cricket exists there. The Headingley team can’t be called Yorkshire then, or even ‘The White Roses’, as its too alienating for those people in the North East who actually do love cricket, or more importantly, will love cricket if the new T20 league is a future success, and if it can’t be called that, then the North West team can’t be called ‘The Red Roses’ either. I see no reason why there won’t still be the added spice between the Old Trafford and Headingley sides though. The historical heritage won’t simply evaporate overnight.

This team needs to represent the whole of Yorkshire & the Humber, as well as the North East NUTS regions. So, basically the whole of the North, outside of the North West then. ‘Northern Monkeys’? How derogatory. ‘Northern Knights’? There’s a New Zealand team called that. Whatever they’re called, I think this team needs to have the word ‘Northern’ in the title for the same reason the Rose Bowl side needs the word ‘Southern’.

 

So that’s that then. If you know the Smiths song referenced in the title, you will know why I’m signing off by saying “Oh, give us your money”. Which is what plenty believe the ECB are saying by launching this competition.

We won’t know until 2020…. that’s the year, not the format, when it finally launches, but in my own opinion, if it gets domestic cricket talked about more regularly, with more exposure on free-to-air TV, it can’t be a complete disaster…… or can it?