ECB scrap plans for new Twenty20 competition

[pskov]

BBC SPORT | Cricket | Counties | ECB scraps plans for second T20

ECB scraps plans for second T20

The England and Wales Cricket Board has opted for one enhanced Twenty20 competition in next season's cricket calendar as opposed to two.

The ECB was considering having a P20 championship as well as the current Twenty20 Cup but decided against it after meeting county chiefs.

A new T20 competition was the ECB's answer to the Indian Premier League.

But the 2010 schedule will now include the LV County Championship, Friends Provident Trophy and Twenty20 Cup.

"These were extremely constructive talks and the consensus of opinion was clearly for three competitions, with a desire to preserve the primacy of Test cricket and the LV County Championship," said ECB chief executive David Collier.

Any extra T20 competition would have caused scheduling problems for the ECB, while attracting sponsors and broadcasters might have proved difficult in the current economic climate.

The Twenty20 World Cup was staged in England this year and caused England's first Test of the series against West Indies to start early on 7 May.

That is believed to have proved less than ideal and, with a similar scenario expected as England play two Test series each summer, the P20 has been scrapped.

The new look Twenty20 Cup is now expected to be played throughout the whole season and predominantly on Thursdays, Fridays and at weekends.

Details of how many overseas players permitted per county are yet to be announced by the ECB.

The FPT is set to be put back a few weeks - starting in June - and will include quarter-final and semi-final stages, while the Championship is set to remain a 16-match campaign.

Have to say I'm pleased. Having two T20 competitions in the summer was a thoroughly stupid idea in the first place. Hopefully they will now open up the current T20 Cup to more overseas players (say 4 per team) so that I maybe start to care about it a bit more. A happy byproduct of the T20 expansion is the elimination of the Pro 40 League which was another waste of space in my opinion. Still we'll never be able to do what English cricket really needs which is cull some of the counties that aren't pulling their weight (I'm looking at you Leicestershire) to concentrate the better players in fewer teams and bring the overall quality up.

[morgieb]

Why did they want 2 T20 comps in the first place? Personally think that the pre-existing one should be the rival to the IPL. (Obv not private invested though).

[GingerFurball]

The proposal should have been 8 city based franchises based at the Test grounds (Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff, 2 London teams and Southampton).

That would have been a real rival to the IPL for 2 reasons:

1. The English summer is a natural international window - less conflict with boards if players want to participate.

2. England is safer than the subcontinent.

[Scaly piscine]

The proposal should have been 8 city based franchises based at the Test grounds (Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff, 2 London teams and Southampton).

That would have been a real rival to the IPL for 2 reasons:

1. The English summer is a natural international window - less conflict with boards if players want to participate.

2. England is safer than the subcontinent.

Oi **** off omitting Riverside and including the barely Intercontinental Cup standard SWALEC stadium.

[four_or_six]

Don't know about the alternative, but I'm definitely pleased that there's only going to be one competition.

[GIMH]

City cricket a poor idea IMO

[jondavluc]

Thank ****ing goodness.

[Richard]

Yeah, some of the better schedule alterations to come from the ECB of late. I've hated this 40-over nonsense since it was brought back in 2000-and-whenever-it-was (2005?), the 45-over stuff was just about acceptably comparable to 50-overs. The one good thing to come from the nonsense which was apparently two 20-over comps was that this was to be rid of. Now we've got rid of it without the 20-over overdose.

Hopefully this might mean the outcome which county cricket has needed for about a century - a bit less on-field cricket, and more time for planning and practising. Ideally we'd have more one-day cricket (be it more 50-overs or the return of 45-over stuff), but the shifting of the 50-over stuff out of May is good, because a wet start to the season essentially meant many players would get 5-6 OD games per season, which is simply not good enough. Ideally, there'd be reserve days for every 50-over game, to cut washouts and reduced-over affairs to an absolute minimum, though that may be asking rather too much.

I suppose the one disappointing thing is Twenty20 being played all season. It was perfect for both Twenty20 lovers and Twenty20 haters - as well as the players - when it was just a couple of midsummer weeks, with a distinct and clear definition that made it clear that it was totally different from First-Class and one-day cricket. Still, I'll take that as a by-product of this relatively good outcome.

[TT Boy]

Great news.

[TT Boy]

City cricket a poor idea IMO

It is but 18 first class counties is even worse. Too much **** knocking about.

[GIMH]

I suppose the one disappointing thing is Twenty20 being played all season. It was perfect for both Twenty20 lovers and Twenty20 haters - as well as the players - when it was just a couple of midsummer weeks, with a distinct and clear definition that made it clear that it was totally different from First-Class and one-day cricket. Still, I'll take that as a by-product of this relatively good outcome.

Not sure, I think it's a bad thing to have players playing just one format in a period of a month or so. It doesn't give much scope for Test hopefuls to play FC cricket between series. I think this is actually a good thing and *might* see some internationals fit an extra championship game into the season

[aussie]

The proposal should have been 8 city based franchises based at the Test grounds (Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff, 2 London teams and Southampton).

That would have been a real rival to the IPL for 2 reasons:

1. The English summer is a natural international window - less conflict with boards if players want to participate.

2. England is safer than the subcontinent.

Nah. No need to rival IPL, which big money investor is gonna invest in cricket in England, like them Indian tycoons??.

Just keep it simple. Use the simple T20 competition that we have & just create a rule for how much international players a team can have.

[zaremba]

The proposal should have been 8 city based franchises based at the Test grounds (Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff, 2 London teams and Southampton).

That would have been a real rival to the IPL for 2 reasons:

1. The English summer is a natural international window - less conflict with boards if players want to participate.

2. England is safer than the subcontinent.

Don't make me angry, Mr Furball. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

[Richard]

Not sure, I think it's a bad thing to have players playing just one format in a period of a month or so. It doesn't give much scope for Test hopefuls to play FC cricket between series. I think this is actually a good thing and *might* see some internationals fit an extra championship game into the season

It was only 2 weeks for the old Twenty20 Cup (which saw its last in 2008) wasn't it?

If there was ever a break in the international schedule - which there isn't, and hasn't been since 2000 - then internationals could play more domestic cricket. But as long as the winter's tour continues to finish in March or even April, and there is rarely so much as a week where there's no Test or ODI (or Twenty20 International ) cricket, and on the precious rare occasion there is it's an invaluable chance for rest, it will remain the case that Test-and-ODI players play 2-3 games per season at the absolute best.

[GIMH]

Unless I'm mistaken, the T20 Cup has always taken up the bulk of June.

Obviously players who are involved in the Test & ODI squads will get little chance to play for their counties regardless, but I am thinking of players who maybe aren't in the ODI squad and have a shot at playing Tests. They get to play some FC cricket in June while the ODIs are normally going on and put themselves in the window whereas in recent years the first ODI series has clashed with the T20s