Scott Wilson
April 17th, 2008
THE timing could hardly
be more ironic. Yesterday,
the English county
cricket season began with a
lack of fanfare in front of a
handful of spectators. Glitz and
glamour were conspicuous
only by their absence.
Tomorrow, the Indian Premier
League's new Twenty20
competition will begin in front
of capacity crowds and a television
audience of millions.
The battle lines have been
drawn, but the playing field is
anything but level. It is the old
against the new, the past
against the future. Forget the
County Championship. When it
comes to cricket in 2008, it is
going to be an Indian summer.
The question facing the England
and Wales Cricket Board
is how to respond to the seismic
upheaval that is threatening
to change the face of world
cricket and, to that end, a senior
delegation, including the
organisation's chief executive
and chairman, have eschewed
the appeal of Lancashire
against Surrey to take in Delhi
Daredevils against the Rajasthan
Royals this weekend.
Their problems are twofold.
One, is the need to ensure that
England's leading players continue
to represent their country
when the cash-rich IPL
runs concurrently with the
start of the English domestic
season and the national side's
opening series of the summer.
This year, the rush to finalise
arrangements in India meant a
simple blanket ban was sufficient
to suffice. Hampshire
skipper Dimitri Mascarenhas
will be the only English player
participating in the maiden
season of the IPL, and as he is
not centrally contracted to the
ECB, his involvement will not
affect England's chances of
winning the forthcoming Test
series against New Zealand.
In years to come, though,
simply saying no will not be
good enough. England's leading
players will take one look
at the astronomical sums on
offer in India and either rip up
their central contracts and
turn their backs on the Test
team or call for expensive court
action that would threaten the
financial well-being of the entire
English domestic game.
The ECB are going to have to
come to an arrangement that
allows the likes of Kevin
Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff
to join cricket's Indian jamboree,
whether that means limiting
England's early-season international
obligations or
simply accepting that the demands
of the Test side must be
subordinate to Twenty20's
worldwide expansion. Neither
option is particularly palatable,
but the ECB have to accept the
world of cricket is changing.
Secondly, and more importantly
in the long run, they are
also going to have to create either
a rival or a partner to the
IPL.
In cricket, as in every other
area of modern sport, money
talks, and the English game
cannot afford to miss out on
the gravy train that is pulling
out of the station in India but
which could yet take in a number
of worldwide stops before it
reaches its final destination.
There is no doubt that the
ECB will seek to revamp England's
own domestic Twenty20
competition to better replicate
the IPL - the only questions are
how, and how quickly?
There has been speculation
hinting at the establishment of
an English city-based league
where Mick Jagger's London
Lionhearts could take on Paul
McCartney's Liverpool Leopards.
Fanciful? Probably. But given
the manner in which the ECB
is desperately attempting to respond
to cricket's Indian explosion,
anything seems possible.
A beefed-up Twenty20 involving
the current county sides is
the most likely conclusion,
with increased exposure and
sponsorship sought to secure
the participation of some of
the world's leading lights.
Even at this late stage, it
could happen this summer.
There have been suggestions
the limit on overseas players
could be lifted for June's Twenty20
Cup, although with the
cash for such a move almost
certainly having to come from
each individual county's private
purse, the effect for many
would be negligible.
More likely is that next season's
Twenty20 competition
will be a higher-profile affair,
perhaps taking up as much as a
month-and-a-half of the season
and thereby having a major impact
on existing competitions.
The Pro40 League would appear
to be an endangered
species - hardly a bad thing -
and the previously untouchable
County Championship
could even have to be squeezed
to make way for its ebullient
younger cousin.
Traditionalists will scoff at
such a scenario, but their complaints
are unlikely to make
any difference. As the sparse
attendances at yesterday's
County Championship matches
proved, nobody will be there to
hear them speak.
ARSENE WENGER was doing
his best Mohamed Al Fayed
impression when he talked of
dark conspiracy theories at
the weekend, but the Arsenal
manager should look a little
closer to home as he seeks to
explain his club's dramatic
collapse in the second half of
the season.
He was the man who played
a shadow squad in both the
Carling Cup and the FA Cup,
he was the man who failed to
sign adequate defensive cover
and he was the man who maintained
that his side did not
need a winger despite plentiful
evidence to the contrary.
The Frenchman has performed
miracles during his
time in North London, but just
as he fails to witness refereeing
decisions that go in his
side's favour, so he also struggles
to see his own faults.
9:36am Thursday 17th April 2008
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