Just to bring you up to date with the upcoming IPL tournament. (Check IPL section above for info on teams and players)
It starts on Friday, and we should be excited about it. The worlds best players (bar England’s) have flocked to India, and it will be great to watch.
There is no doubt it will be a success, but should England’s players have been allowed to participate?
In the future I can see problems, as players like Pietersen and Flintoff will surely want to pick up $1m for six weeks work.
The ECB’s stance was that the centrally contracted players will never be able to play, as the tournament clashes with early summer test matches. But today has seen a change of tune, with a spokesman explaining that the top English players should play in the worlds best tournament.
Dimitri Mascheranas is the only English player taking part, and he explained that Twenty20 is the future, and we should embrace it. That is all well and good, but it takes away the value of the County championships.
One interesting view point was that of Ravi Bopara: “I don’t know much about it, seriously I haven’t read about it but I’ve heard people talk about it, not at Essex just around… normal fans, mates and stuff.
“But I’m not interested. I’m more interested in what I am doing right now.”
There are a couple of solutions. Hopefully the ECB will recognise that an EPL or expanded Twenty20 tournament should be the centrepiece of the county season. Otherwise IPL officials will need to consider bringing the tournament back a few weeks, or the ICC will include it in the Future Tours Programme, meaning it won’t clash with any international cricket.
7 Comments
April 17, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Although I’ve not the biggest cricket knowledge, the introduction of the IPL reminds me of the introduction of the Premier League within football.
I can understand the attractiveness of bringing the world’s best into one league to play the ‘exciting’ form of the game in 20/20 (which in itself is being played too much) but like football, surely this will eventually be detrimental to the core values of the game such as county cricket and even the international calendar.
Many players may be distancing themselves from the IPL this year, but money talks, and I think within time the IPL could be looked back on as a pivital moment within cricket history.
April 17, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Indeed, your sentiments are being re-iterated around the world.
In reply, I think there needs to be a balance struck. Twenty20 is crucial to the future of the game, and the thought is that by getting the kids involved early with some entertaining cricket, it will mean they eventually follow other forms of the game too.
However with the powers in cricket being ‘money crazy’, it looks as if Twenty20 will become the main form of the game in future years. Money does talk, and players like Pietersen will not be backing off for much longer.
Perhaps the solution is to section off a month in the year, where the worlds best players come together in an IPL style tournament. The rest of the year is spent fulfulling international commitments.
April 17, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Is the IPL purely 20/20 format? I think it would be sad to lose the proper form of the game for a more commercial look. Still if the change is inevitable, then we should embrace it, not fight against it. I agree with your idea of ’sectioning off a month of the year’, but do you really think that is a workable solution?
April 17, 2008 at 4:40 pm
It is just Twenty20. It enables the organisers to have more games, and bring more fans into the grounds (remember there will be crowds of up to 80,000 for these games).
They have already proposed to add the IPL to the Future Tours Programme (basically fixtures between test playing nations and major tournaments for the next few years). The ICC turned it down, although I think they will have to reconsider.
It’s worth noting that the ICC were not totally with a Twenty20 World Cup either…
April 17, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I like the idea of the IPL, but do you think it could set a dangerous precedent?
It’s as if the game of cricket is being sold to the highest bidder.
It would be a real shame if cricket went down the same route as football, being seen as a sport not so much played for the passion, but more for the money.
April 17, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I guess we’ll have to wait and see, this really is unchartered ground for everyone.
However I don’t think passion will be removed from the game. It’s the number 1 sport in India, where there’s over 1 billion people, and they are all crazy about cricket.
It makes sense to capatalise on the market there.
April 18, 2008 at 10:12 am
I certainly see this as one of the final nails in the 50 over coffin. 20/20 will probably bury the 50 over game in the coming decade.
The IPL will almost certainly replace the County game as the best domestic system in World Cricket & the ECB & the Counties will have to move their system to fit the IPL. (Maybe they’ll finally stop playing useless 40 over stuff).
The only reason the IPL may fail is the mindset of the Indian people. They watch cricket to support India, as woeful domestic crowds show. Are Delhians really going to support Glenn McGrath ripping out Sachin’s off stump?
If it does work, then the main worry is that it’ll eat into the proper, 2-innings, 3/4/5-day game. Hopefully not, but, as you say, money talks, especially to the ICC & outside Australia, here & the sub-continent, Test Cricket doesn’t sell.