England copying IPL next year?

[usalion]

TMS reporting that the ECB is proposing an IPL style league for next year, with nine teams based around the test playing grounds- so Lords, the Oval, the Rose Bowl Edgbaston, Sophia Gardens, Trent Bridge, Old Trafford, Headingley and the Riverside.

Players would be drafted, squads of 16, with four international players per side.

Looking at a 25 day schedule- dunno what that means for the county scene or international matches during that time period. Can't see them NOT wanting the England players (or the touring side players) available for these squads.

As tMS, can you see Freddie playing for Headingley....or Vaughan captaining Old Trafford?

Nothing written in stone, but apparently, this is what is being looked at. Checked BBC Sport for a confirming story, but nothing posted yet.

[Grimwood]

Deluded ####wits.

I mean.. er.. how novel!

[usalion]

Here's the BBC article- due to start in 2010, not next year

****************


England could stage rival to IPL
ECB chairman Giles Clarke
ECB chairman Clarke will look over plans for a new Twenty20 event

A blueprint has been prepared for a £50m Twenty20 tournament to be staged in England which will rival the Indian Premier League, BBC Sport understands.

The radical proposal would see the county structure replaced by nine franchises based on the grounds that already stage Tests and one-day games.

The 57-match tournament has the backing of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Lancashire, Hampshire and Surrey.

They have said that the event would be scheduled for June and July from 2010.

The document of proposals for the 25-day spectacle will be put forward for discussion by the England and Wales Cricket Board this month.

They include plans to rival the IPL by using a bidding process to attract the biggest stars of the international stage.

606: DEBATE
Give your reaction to the Twenty20 plans

It is also suggested that each squad would consist of 12 home-grown players, of which three must be under 23, with a salary cap of £1.5m.

The lucrative IPL and its unsanctioned rival, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), has seen Twenty20 cricket dominate the cricket headlines in recent months.

In order not to be left behind, England agreed a five-year deal worth £50m with businessman Sir Allen Stanford where they will play a winner-takes-all Twenty20 match each year in the Caribbean.

But the new blueprint could have a deeper impact on the domestic game in England and Wales, which is already under review by ECB chairman Giles Clarke.

It's a radical suggestion - but it's purely that at the moment

BBC Radio 5 Live cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew

"This tournament would effectively abolish the long-established county structure," explained BBC Radio 5 Live cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew.

"The smaller counties will see this as the beginning of the end.

"The question is, will cricket lovers in this country who have been brought up following counties go to watch nominally Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, north London, south London and the list goes on?

"But the most controversial aspect is that the event is not going to be owned by the ECB, it will be a new company in which the ECB would be merely a stakeholder.

"It's a radical suggestion - but it's purely that at the moment."

The ECB led the way in the quickfire form of the game by introducing a domestic Twenty20 competition in 2003.

But an ECB spokesman said: "We don't know anything about [the proposals]. Nothing's been presented to the board yet and it's not on the agenda for our next board meeting."

An MCC spokeswoman declined to comment.

[Grimwood]

Say good night, folks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/7510080.stm

Essentially they've just replaced Pro40 with Pro20 and changed the name of the T20 Cup to 'the EPL' in an effort to kid themselves that it's a credible rival to the IPL. The schedule will remain as crowded as ever and we'll kill the golden goose that is T20.

"Broadcasters in this country and in Asia are interested in county sides - they are not interested in made-up sides," ECB chairman Giles Clarke told BBC Radio 5 Live.

I hope you get hit by a bus, Giles.