Constant tampering ruining the one-day league in England?

[DanielFullard]

Constant tampering ruining the one-day league in England?

I know this is probably suitable for the English Domestic Thread but I feel that maybe its worth a thread of its own.

The tampering with the format of the English Domestic Season has left me annoyed yet again. It’s made even worse due to me being a Durham fan and we scrapped all season to gain promotion and what do we have awaiting us? A crappy Pro40 league that seems nothing but something tacked on at the end of the season just for the sake it.

The CGT reforms have ruined the One Day season. Yes the cup is still important and still has prestige but it was so much better in the simple cup format of loose and you’re out. Now we have a horrible league format that will lead to many many nothing games when sides will have nothing at all to play for other than pride. Yes, it will give youngsters the chance to come in and prove their worth but this isn’t what a cup should be about. A cup should be about every match meaning something, about a loss meaning elimination.

And the main loser in these reforms is the one-day league .Now we have a pathetic PRO40 league with a measly 8 games a season….8 games??? It is hardly worth it. 40 overs is too few as well. What is the point in these reforms to the one-day league? I cant see any other than to make time for CGT and 20/20. The one day league has proved time and time again to be a thrilling, enjoyable and attractive game that whilst not a patch on the CC is still a good format of cricket. Now with only 40 overs and 8 games it hardly constitutes a season at all. Winning it would still be a huge achievement for any team and a proud one but even if my team won it I couldn’t help feel a little annoyed. Basically it’s just the group stages of the CGT without a final isn’t it? That’s darn annoying. Why have a CGT and NL which are virtually the same thing bar the promotion and relegation and different make ups?

And slap bang in the middle is 20/20. If it brings much needed money to clubs fair enough but when it starts effecting the rest of the domestic game I begin to rethink my support for it. Without 20/20 the 40 over league (or however many overs they have decide) would still have meant something and still be 16-18 games long.

So what do you think about the reforms for the present season?

[Langeveldt]

What I would have liked to have seen is an 8 day domestic one day cup called the Pro50.. What kind of a number is 40 for playing cricket? Surely you want players day in day out to be playing the same kind of stuff england do with their ODI's? 8 games is enough, and raises the intensity somewhat

But what would cricket be if there wasnt pointless tinkering and crap moneymaking schemes?

[marc71178]

I'd hardly call it constant tinkering.

When was the last change? A few years back.

[DanielFullard]

Compared to other sports we have seen quite a change. It was a 65-over league at first wasn't it and since then it has came down and down and the Cup has been altered. there was no need for this current change

[Autobahn]

Well actually other domestic seasons only play around 5-10 one day matches per team so it's hardly pathetic really.

[DanielFullard]

Originally Posted by Autobahn

Well actually other domestic seasons only play around 5-10 one day matches per team so it's hardly pathetic really.

Its a pale shadow of the league we used to have. There was nothing at all wrong with the format last season. Having the limited over leagues as an 8-game season makes it the same as the CGT group stages virtually.

Its it two up two down in the Pro40 this year?

[steds]

I would either disagree or not care, but I don't understand the format this year. So I agree.

[DanielFullard]

Originally Posted by steds

I would either disagree or not care, but I don't understand the format this year. So I agree.

Nicely put!

Basically the one-day league is 8 games per team, 4 home 4 away with the same points system as last year. It doesn't begin until the last few months of the season.

And the CGT is basically the same. Two groups of 10 split into North and South, 5 games home and 5 away and laughably only one team qualifying for the final. Surely it would be wise to have the top 2-4 qualifying to avoid the wealth of pointless games we are going to get as early as week 4

[Richard]

Originally Posted by DanielFullard

Compared to other sports we have seen quite a change. It was a 65-over league at first wasn't it and since then it has came down and down and the Cup has been altered. there was no need for this current change

The National League started in 1969 as a 40-over competition. It was changed to 45 in 1999, and now has been given a different format.
I don't, personally, find too much wrong with a 40-over competition. It's still credible as good one-day cricket, rather than one-evening (\one-morning) Twenty20 games. Good bowlers can still bowl economically in 40-over cricket.
The C&G did indeed start as a 65-over comp, but only for 1 season. It was 60 overs between 1964 and 1998. Then it became 50 overs.
England home ODIs were 55 overs from the start to 1995 - World Cups, however, were 60. At least, in England in the first 3. In 1987, it went down to 50.
Then there was the now-defunct B&H Cup, which IIRR started 55 and went to 50 sometime. Probably about 1996.
I do, however, find the current changes ludicrous. I think the C&G worked best as a straight knockout; apparently, however, counties find the 40-over game is more crowd-friendly than the 45-over one. Given that the one-day game, unlike the First-Class one, does have potential domestically, that is an important consideration.
As such, from a crowd-attracting POV you want more 40-overs games. From a development POV, it'd be better if the C&G was the 40-over comp and the National League the 50-over one - providing you retained the old format of C&G straight knockout, National League H&A 9-team 2-division thing.
It's a difficult balancing-act.

[Jungle Jumbo]

I don't have much of a problem with 40 over cricket, it's the change in the C&G which I'm more annoyed at. We now have two 'league' style OD games, and there is no longer a classic knock out competition. The only reason the ECB have given for the changes is to let the players get more exposure to 50 overs cricket. Simple solution - play 50 over one-day cricket in the league, like every other country in the world does.

[Richard]

As I say - there's a good reason why that's not been done - in England, 40-over cricket is considered more crowd-friendly.
Presumably, in Australia, West Indies etc. crowds are happy to come to 50-over domestic matches (obviously not in the numbers that attend ODIs, but bigger than those who attend the League).
As I also said - it's a difficult balancing-act. I don't think the solution currently being tried is the right one, but nor do I think there's any magic-bullet.

[open365]

Now you mention it, that format is a complete joke, playing more games in the cup than in the league, pathetic.

I don't see what they acheive by ruining the C + G, the only reason they can get away with this is because no body likes county cricket, and i'm not suprised if this is the way they treat it.

[Richard]

Nobody likes the C&G or the National League?
Very far from true.
Nobody likes the Championship - yes, but that's not been changed.

[DanielFullard]

in England, 40-over cricket is considered more crowd-friendly

But that is foolish logic by the ECB. 40 over cricket is not anymore attractive than 50 over cricket. Going to a match or watching it on Tv still consumes most of your day. 40 over Cricket isn’t going to attract a bigger crowd. That is what 20/20 is for.

A 50 over, 18 game league with a 40-45 over cup competitions is the best solution all round

The National League is a joke and it makes all that promotion celebraiton seem worthless. The CGT format is horribly ill-conceived. If they want to pull people through the gates what is the point in devising a competition that will result countless matches of irrelevance. Face it, a team plays 9 games, they loose the first 3-4 and the last 5-6 will be rendered irrelevant. Heck, the league could be won early and we could be left with a situation of 2 weeks of nothing fixtures. Having only one qualify for the final is a horrible near idiotc idea

[Neil Pickup]

And Devon don't get to play anymore.