English chief wary of new Twenty20 plans
Sunday, 13 July 2008
LONDON, July 12 (AFP): English cricket's senior administrator has poured cold water on plans to create a new money-spinning Twenty20 county tournament.
Proposals drafted by a group including Keith Bradshaw, the Australian secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord's, and Surrey chairman David Stewart for a nine-team tournament are set to be presented at an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) meeting Tuesday.
However, ECB chairman Giles Clarke has made it clear he is concerned at any plan which doesn't cater for England's existing 18 first-class counties.
The new scheme, which has been discussed by MCC, Hampshire, Surrey and Lancashire - all clubs whose grounds currently stage international matches - envisages nine consortium backed by private investors and based at England venues playing in a 57- match tournament in 2010.
According to its backers, it would replace the current 40- over league, a competition many feel the English game could do without as there is no international equivalent, in the county set-up.
There are also suggestions for a separate Twenty20 event Friday nights and a 50-overs per side one-day tournament to be played at weekends, which would wrap around the first-class County Championship.
But despite projections of a 50 million pounds (100 million dollars) profit in its first year, rising to as much as 85 million pounds (170 million dollars), which would be shared between the ECB, investors and overseas boards, for their role in supplying players, Clarke was unconvinced.
"There have been a lot of ideas pushed around, most of debatable economic validity," said Clarke, a self-made millionaire.
Proposals drafted by a group including Keith Bradshaw, the Australian secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord's, and Surrey chairman David Stewart for a nine-team tournament are set to be presented at an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) meeting Tuesday.
However, ECB chairman Giles Clarke has made it clear he is concerned at any plan which doesn't cater for England's existing 18 first-class counties.
The new scheme, which has been discussed by MCC, Hampshire, Surrey and Lancashire - all clubs whose grounds currently stage international matches - envisages nine consortium backed by private investors and based at England venues playing in a 57- match tournament in 2010.
According to its backers, it would replace the current 40- over league, a competition many feel the English game could do without as there is no international equivalent, in the county set-up.
There are also suggestions for a separate Twenty20 event Friday nights and a 50-overs per side one-day tournament to be played at weekends, which would wrap around the first-class County Championship.
But despite projections of a 50 million pounds (100 million dollars) profit in its first year, rising to as much as 85 million pounds (170 million dollars), which would be shared between the ECB, investors and overseas boards, for their role in supplying players, Clarke was unconvinced.
"There have been a lot of ideas pushed around, most of debatable economic validity," said Clarke, a self-made millionaire.