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[rickjames]

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/ecb-board-agrees-new-shape-county-game

Guess it's a step in the right direction have white ball stuff in blocks, July/August is definitely the best time for the Blast. If you get to finals day that's 16 odd games over 7/8 weeks right? Heck of a lot. Still see a franchise system a la Big Bash/IPL somewhere along the lines...

[uknsaunders]

Must be hoping for some div2 counties to merge...

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[jwebber86]

The blocks definitely make sense. Hopefully show the most popular cricket where the most people can watch it.

[ppccopener]

They have to get the most popular form of the game available in the school holidays it's a no brainier

As much as I'm personally a purist ( I prefer test cricket to anything else) cricket has to be marketed to a new audience.

The T20 is more popular and that has to be at the front

[ProCricketer1982]

2020 has to be played in the school holidays and when the weather is best, it's simply the only way e game will survive.

Ps.. From someone who detestes 2020 and the crap players it's producing

[ppccopener]

2020 has to be played in the school holidays and when the weather is best, it's simply the only way e game will survive.

Ps.. From someone who detestes 2020 and the crap players it's producing

Good post Pro. Test cricket will survive but it may just be subsidised by the shorter form of the game.

[Kez]

ECB back peddling after asking the fans what they wanted- Friday Night Lights T20s... Back to the block that the players wanted. Just slight change in time of year, reinventing the wheel?

[joeljonno]

ECB back peddling after asking the fans what they wanted- Friday Night Lights T20s... Back to the block that the players wanted. Just slight change in time of year, reinventing the wheel?

The problem with putting them in a block is there's more chance of the weather having a major impact. If we have a bad week of rain, they could lose 50% of their revenue in lost games.

It's a gamble.


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[Woodyspin]

The problem with putting them in a block is there's more chance of the weather having a major impact. If we have a bad week of rain, they could lose 50% of their revenue in lost games.

It's a gamble.


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It is a gamble your correct but for everyone else its not just about pleasing the people that watch it. Its about pleasing those playing it, almost every professional said they found it difficult playing 3 different formats in the space of a week. The mental side of the game is so much harder then actually playinh most of the time!

[smilley792]

The problem with putting them in a block is there's more chance of the weather having a major impact. If we have a bad week of rain, they could lose 50% of their revenue in lost games.

It's a gamble.


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It's England, it could end up raining every Friday for the entire summer.
all crickets a risk here.

[edge]

Fairly well accepted that putting  the games in a block will raise the standards, suspect it's also a softening-up tactic to move the counties further towards the divisional system the ECB wants.

As for the fans, is the Friday night thing really a big deal? Can't say that attendances seem to have improved outside the big games at Glos. The potential raised profile of playing it in a block will surely bring an upturn in interest, which is the clear plan from the ECB here.

[uknsaunders]

At least the ECB put t20 cricket during the school holidays, that at least makes sense. I also suspect no other T20 Retirement League is being played at the same time so attracting players from overseas should help. Not sure on the rest of it. Could they have cut down the RLC and played it in a compact block in June? Then keep the CC as 16 games in April/May/Sept? Cutting Div 1 by 1 team is just fiddling with the system. I do think they are waiting for some counties to merge or go bust in Div2. The other alternative is the creation of Div 3 somewhere down the line, giving the prospect of 3 divisions of 7. I assume this would mean Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands joining though I can't see the ECB handouts extending to them.

[ScottParko]

The RL50 could easily be manipulated more to help. It is clearly the least popular of the three tournaments now so it may as well be the fall guy.

Idea 1 - Instead of having a heap of group games followed by quarter finals/semi finals, cut the pointless quarters. That wouldn't have a major effect so...

Idea 2 - go for the straight knock out competition throughout. Having the big schedule drew out would make logistics a bit easier knowing who you will play in the next round etc, but I'd prefer a FA cup style draw after every round. That would cut the amount of games down significantly.



As for the Friday night t20's it was better for me personally but I can't imagine there are many in the same boat. Being miles away from Chester Le Street with poor public transport, having them on Friday night's meant we were more likely for better numbers to share taxis (end of working week being the main reason).

[uknsaunders]

Problem with cricket is very few other sports play a variety of formats. You don't see football playing 20 mins each way? I can sympathise with cricket professionals but Friday night t20 was a good idea.

[Woodyspin]

Problem with cricket is very few other sports play a variety of formats. You don't see football playing 20 mins each way? I can sympathise with cricket professionals but Friday night t20 was a good idea.

Not time based but player based (5 a side, 6 a side) which reduces lengths of halves