Re: Franchise CC
Primrose Hillbilly
30 July, 2016 07:22
I believe that much of the current enthusiasm for and talking up of a UK based T20 city franchise structure comes from the ECB seeing what is currently available on TV on Dave.
McCullum, recently of our parish, was not available to help us out all season, because he was off to the CPL in the middle of our season. (NB the CPL is talking about taking the game over to Florida every year now, in search of the bucks there.)
We have George Bailey currently - who appears to be an utter credit to his nation, given the way he engages with kids on the boundary. Would we not like to have both him and BigMc, as well as Sowter for all limited over matches ?
If ....... Chris Gayle was playing for Somerset, and, just supposing, we could not play that fixture at Lord's, do you imagine that Richmond would have the crowd it did earlier this year?
Why are people like Sangakarra, Dale Steyn, McC, the Warne lookie- likey (at least in run up and delivery, but not results at the other end) Adam Zampa, in the Caribbean, having to fly between islands to play, over there during the previously one and only natural time for playing first class cricket in the world, due to climate and time zones - the UK and Ireland?
Money talks. (Some say (Bob Dylan, and more recently The BLockheads) it swears!)They have a point.
That is why these people play in front of big crowds in the Caribbean. Filthy Lucre - oh, dayumm. What shameless hussies these players are.
Cricket is part of the entertainment industry, and the message seems to be clear that a lot of people want a game of only about 3 to 4 hours duration. - NB it's not the game, but the amount of time - This is percolating down to club cricket, where even Teddington CC, and Richmond CC cannot raise Sunday teams now. Cricket needs to be a lot more immediate for the market we are in now. When e.g. Scarborough sold out for Yorkshire to play Kent there in 1954, was there that much else to do in the day? Nowadays, you don't even have to go to a cinema to watch a film.
OK, the ECB is rising to the challenge of the Caribbean T20. It appreciates it is in a market. It has funds. It either had to rise to the challenge, or the CPL was going to kill the UK T20. The ECB also - by and large - controls the game over here.
I do not see what prevents the CC T20 structure becoming a feeder league for the UK T20, with funds gained from the franchised league supporting it, and e.g. The Middle being compensated for the loss of players called up to the London Franchise by either the ECB or the league. That's what happens in baseball. Did I not read that the Middle had sold the marketing rights of the limited overs games at Lord's to MCC anyway?
What would we feel if .......... Middlesex members were allowed into Lord's for free - ditto Slurry members for matches at the Oval, Warwicks for Brum, Leeds for Yeeeeeaaawwksheeeeeya, to see Gayle, McC, Steyn, alongside Morgan, Malan, Simmo and Ro-Jo-Smith in a match played by ............oh, I dunno, the Middle Seaxons, the City of London Insider Dealers or whatever they get called.
I personally think the City Franchise thing is inevitable.
If we want the club we love to continue to prosper, time to get behind the project.