posted May 29, 2008

Hopefully the ECB will leave the Championship alone- it doesn't need changing at all. It's about creating Test players, not about getting in big crowds. If it helps to produce a strong England team, then the ECB will make their money on Test gates which will in turn let them hand money down to the counties for academies, etc.

They should change the FP Trophy back to the old structure and allow the minor counties to play. If they want to have room for another Twenty20 tournament then scrap the Pro40.

In all honesty, I can see the ECB going overkill on the whole Twenty20 thing, and in the end attendances will drop as there'll be too many games, so people will be more picky about which ones they go to. Also, after a while, the excitement of Twenty20 wears out: wow, a batsman hits a four! So what, he's already hit 10 so far, and he's faced 30 odd balls. The achievement of hitting boundaries gets smaller and less exciting.

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posted May 29, 2008

johnnyspireite7,

Why Surrey and Kent??? and Middx and Essex?
Surrey and Middlesex and Kent and Essex would be more apt.
Also Lancs and Yorks should be together as well. The teams should be as close to each other as possible.

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posted May 29, 2008

It shouldn't be more than 3 weeks IMO, I hope the top men don't get money hungry.

Pro-40 should be ended, with just the FP Trophy and County Championship, with an interlude for the EPL during June.

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posted May 29, 2008

Seeing as how the question posed in this thread was "who do you think will win the IPL" and none of the answers bear any relation to this question I think it is fair to say that no one gives a flying **** about the IPL, well, apart from the 4 people with a Setanta subscription who like watching the Mumbai Space Donkeys Vs the Gujarat 6 Million Dollar Men. Its a joke I tells ya.....

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posted May 29, 2008

You are right in one way Stretfordend,

No one in UK cares about it. Though that is not the case in Asia.

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posted May 29, 2008

You are right in one way Stretfordend,

No one in UK cares about it. Though that is not the case in Asia.

--------------------

Yeah, that is actually the point I was trying to make but I didn't word it very well!, I know its massive in Asia and fair play to them but for the rest of the world I really don't think it figures as highly as they would like to think...!

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posted May 29, 2008

County Champs - 2 conferneces of 9 playing home or away (4 day games x 8 matches = 32 days)
Top 3 from each group into Super-6 (play Home or away v 'new' teams (4 day games x 3 matches = 12 days)
Final series - best of 3 x 4 day match for top two teams (12 days)

T20 - 3 groups of 7 (add Ireland, Scotland, Tour team) Play Home or away (6 matches) then top 3 in each group play-off in Macintyre seeded system.

Pro40 - 2 innings 20 over 3 groups of 6 as current 50-over comp.

50 over - 3 groups of 6 as current

calendar

1) pro40
2) county champs r1
3) pro40
4) cc r2
5) T20

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posted May 29, 2008

i think the plan to split the County Championship into 3 divisions is good, just keeping to the 4 days though!

i still think we need to keep the 50 overs game, it would be a shame to loose it, as at its best it can be much better than 20-20, usually not, but its also a more skiller game which has its benefits!

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posted May 30, 2008

in response to pauldcpfc - GET STUFFED BOSTOCK

Middlesex & Essex (North London)
Surrey & Kent (South London)

and like I said what do you do with Durham & Glamorgan

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posted May 30, 2008

The English County set-up is a joke. If you want to keep it in place (ha ha ha ha), the best thing to do is create a new league "above it" with 6 regional sides comprising the very best players who are eligible to play for England. Take away County Cricket's "first-class" status - that is laughed at overseas and for good reason. Only the regional competition should carry first class status and retired test players and overseas players should be barred from it. Put together a similar structure of matches that the Australian state sides play and watch England become a better team.
This also keeps the old-fashioned County lovers (all 3 of them) happy but no longer retards the national side.
If the ECB is serious about becoming the best test nation, then it will make the hard decisions and follow a plan like this. Otherwise, it is merely taking the mick and patronising the lot of us. Honestly chaps, County Cricket has its place but putting it on a par with Australian State Cricket or Test Cricket is an utter joke!!! Please dont miss this opportunity.

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