The culmination of another successful Big Bash tournament in Australia provides the annual wake-up call to English cricket, but the country that invented T20 cricket is still dozing.
BBL05 has seen in excess of a million spectators hustle excitedly through the gates. Box office records have been broken and there is no doubt that the Big Bash League has been exciting fayre. Just watching it on the television in the UK the atmosphere appears electric. Having spoken to a number of people that have been to matches in Australia over the last few weeks, that impression has been confirmed. But there is no reason why a similar vibe cannot be created in England.
Undoubtedly, English cricket has been guilty of complacency. A ‘we invented the format’ it’s job done mentality. But change is essential in England if T20 is to thrive on a domestic level.
Here’s how English domestic cricket could look…
Play England’s T20 in a block
The BBL is played in a six week window. The Indian Premier League is contested over seven weeks, the Carribbean Premier League over five weeks, and so on. When England invented T20 cricket and it was first played by the 18 counties in 2003 it was played in a block. It has since been stretched into some unwieldy, meandering beast that spans much of the English summer, loses it’s identity, has its impact diluted and is largely played when children are at school.
By playing the competition in a block it becomes easier to follow, the season ticket special offer system is easier to understand and plan and the tournament can maximise its exposure and marketing potential. The competition can naturally gain momentum through to its conclusion and the biggest overseas names can be brought in on short-term deals through to their teams elimination, whereas in the current system they sit around waiting half of the summer or are not signed at all.
There’s nothing anyone can do about the English weather
One of the first English responses is usually that the weather in the United Kingdom does not match Australia. Well if the English weather drives forward thinking then cricket may as well pack it all in. It cannot be beyond the wit of man to look at the Englsih weather over the last decade of summers and find a four week stretch where the sun was more likely to shine. Yes, of course there will be seasons affected by rain, but we don’t really need to remind you there are now. At least putting the English competition in a four-week stretch of July and August maximises the chances of some sunshine.
Don’t imitate, steal the best bits
A straight look at the BBL, or IPL, and an attempt to translate everything to England is never going to work. In Australia 90% of the population live in the major cities. English cricket doesn’t have that fan base on the doorstep and therefore shouldn’t even try to factor that in to future plans. Equally the capacity of Australian grounds are bigger than in the UK. English grounds are never going to match the MCG so those kinds of comparisons are futile. Just concentrate on making the very best of what is available.
Sydney Thunder celebrate their BBL05 success
The best way to deal with the BBL is to look at the things they do prior to a tournament, during it in terms of publicity, during it in terms of action at the grounds and after it has finished. What is done well and what great innovations and ideas can be stolen? There’s nothing wrong in replicating the best bits that can then fit into the English model.
Yes, steal everything good and suitable from other competitions, but England’s decision-makers should not be frightened to push their own boundaries. The flashing stumps, the time-outs, the sponsors prizes for crowd catches and all the things that work elsewhere should be used. But also do things that are new and introduce gizmos which are undeniably English. Put an English stamp back on the format invented in England.
Get every English domestic T20 match on the television
One great advantage in Australia is that all BBL and IPL games are on TV. That is largely because there are fewer teams and therefore only two games maximum each day. The cameras and commentators at the ground makes each game more special and, in turn, the gadgetry on scoreboards etc is of a higher standard.
Three matches have always been played on T20 finals day in England with no complaints from anyone. So, for example. Yorkshire at Headingley could host Durham and Nottinghamshire on the same day with all three counties playing each other to decide the points. The next day Lord’s could host Middlesex, Essex and Kent. Then Cardiff could host Somerset, Glamorgan and Worcestershire. The venues would need to be the bigger grounds with a greater capacity and the revenues split somehow, but the paying spectator gets great value for money and the ground only needs to be switched on once for two home games making it cheaper for the host county.
Each six team group would require 8 days to play the matches. Three groups would necessitate 24 days. These groups lead to QFs, SFS and a Final, so another 7 days. Build in a few rest days here and there and you have a tournament played over six weeks with the potential for every game to be on the television.
If the competition is played during the school summer holidays then Dads may have to take a day or two off work. But a lot are forced into that scenario already. With three games on offer it’s a reason to put in that leave card. Grounds can also stagger ticket prices allowing late comers to come into the ground to watch the final game, always involving the home side, for a reduced fee.
Retain Finals Day, it’s special
Finals Day with four teams playing semi-finals and a final is unique to England. All other countries have a final as the showpiece. There seems no reason for the English Finals Day to be changed, it’s one of the few major success, but it should be rotated around the country to enable more grounds to host it.
Only one competition please
Far too often the ECB have changed for changes sake. The instances where a domestic structure has remained the same from one year to the next are few and far between. For all the surveys and meetings the ECB seems to knee-jerk from one fresh fancy to the next only to bounce on to something else when instant results are not seen. Supporters need to be respected and this is a chance to get things right. Work out the best format, stick to it and allow it to blossom. And crucially allow supporters the chance to fall in love with the format and to properly understand it.
And for the rest of the year?
Keep the County Championship in the format that currently exists but build a one-day tournament around it. There has never been a correlation in England that suggests that the best four-day Championship sides are also the best one-day teams. Far from it. Yorkshire have won the County Championship for the last two seasons but failed to get through to the latter stages of one-day events often won by teams in the second tier of the Championship structure.
So, divide the 50-over one-day tournament into four groups of five teams and perform a draw where Group A and Group B are made up of Division One Championship sides with a spot available for a minor county side or a country like Ireland or Scotland. Draw Groups C and D from Division Two sides with a final spot for another team as before. Then, for example, when Essex play Glamorgan in Cardiff in the Championship, play the one-day fixture the day before the four-day game commences. Teams only need to travel once, and so do supporters, who can then make a bigger trip of it. When the nine team strong Championship divisions afford a side a week off they can, at some stage, play the additional team in the one-day tournament.
This makes sense logistically, affords the fixture planner with a format that allows games to start on the same day of each week and gives supporters an appointment to view.
As for franchise cricket…
There has been a lot of talk about adding an English Premier League franchise competition to the English domestic season, while keeping the NatWest T20 Blast for the counties. For goodness sake! Let’s get one tournament right before we add another.And, if you go down that route, how meaningless and secondary does that leave the county competition?
The assorted brains at Badger HQ cannot see English supporters buying into it. We have flitted from thinking ‘hell no’ to ‘why not’, but usually if your head has major concerns and your gut instinct is also unsure, the chances are it’s not a good idea.
It’s possibly worth keeping an eagle eye on the new women’s league in England, which is along the lines of a franchise model. Let’s see if that works, but give the ideas above a chance to shine first.
There are 18 proud English counties and that is something to celebrate. It is something the rest of the world’s T20 competitions haven’t got.
The suggestions made in this article can work, can’t they?
Do you agree? Tell Badger what you think…
James Buttler
As the editor of Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author and a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications.
He's unsurprisingly a complete cricket badger!
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