This time of year is a very exciting time of year for a cricket fan.
I have very happy memories as a teenager of the Telegraph fantasy cricket league. My brother Gary and I would've spent a week or 2 agonising over the player lists trying the pick a team mixed of proven performers and up and coming players. It was always easy enough to identify the players that would be reliable enough to have a decent county season. The county championship was always full of plenty of old county pros who you could bank on. The key was trying to find a cheap player who was going to have their breakthrough season. The outsider who would elevate a decent team to a winning team. It was skill I always thought I had, but the evidence certainly never backed this claim. My brother on the other hand always managed to do it. The best example was a left arm Worcestershire bowler called Alamgir Sheriyar. Gary picked him in 1999 as a struggling young bowler, and of course he ended up as one of the top wicket takers that season. Gary was actually printed in the top 10 in the country for quite a few weeks in a row.
Today marks the first day of the matches in the county championship and it brings back all the memories of Gary and I were regularly checking Ceefax for the latest scores. We don't do the fantasy cricket anymore though unfortunately. It lost its edge when the England players play so little of the season, and the overseas players change so regularly. It used to be skill to pick a team that had the longevity to perform consistently throughout the whole season, but now it's more of an exercise of managing the numerous amount of transfers each player is allowed. More transfers equals more hits for the paper's website and therefore more revenue. I get that they need to do that. But it takes the edge off the game.
Never mind, it's still exciting, just for different reasons. It marks the start of summer. And it's still exciting to see who will make the breakthrough.
In the last few years, April/May has seen a rival to the county season for our attention. The Indian Premier League.
Now that it's in its 8th year, I've tried to like it and get into it but I've really struggled with it. And I'm not alone in that in this country. You often hear that the sentiment in India (probably the new powerhouse in world cricket) is that England (the old powerhouse) is "jealous" of the successes of the IPL. I can see why that might be thought. T20 cricket originated in England in 2002 but since then India have taken it and turned it into something the ECB would never have thought possible. The IPL is watched by millions and each game is played in front of a full house. The Indian fans have adopted teams with the same intensity as the average football fan over here. It attracts the best players and best coaches in the world. Every team plays in gold. There is advertising everywhere, and in between each over the camera moves to a preening Bollywood star or business leader owner overlooking his latest folly with dark glasses and flowing hair. It is undoubtably a huge success and it's set a template for other competitions around the world.
It's the Lamborghini of the cricket world. A garish bright green Lamborghini, the type that's parked outside the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo.
I think that's why it doesn't sit well with the English cricket fan. We've all grown up with the conservative world of the MCC. Pristine cricket whites, afternoon tea, village greens and stiff upper lips. Everything the IPL isn't.
It is (or was) the Black shiny Rolls Royce. Understated, but of immense quality.
There is an underlying compulsion to preserve the memories that we've grown up with and the IPL doesn't fit with this. We're not jealous, we're just a bit scared. Scared that what we hold dear might change. The IPL and the BCCI hold the power and the money to change the game, and since the IPL the game has changed.
It puts the ECB in a bit of a quandary (one of many they have to sort out at the moment!). After the World Cup debacle, it's clear that they need to change. To embrace the brave new world that that IPL has carved out. But they need to stay true to the past as well as there's too much history to just turn the back on.
Other countries have managed it. Australia have the Big Bash League. Another huge sucess which has lead to them being World Champions. It's a more easy going version of the IPL and more accessible. It suits Australia. It's like a high end convertible. A decent Alfa maybe. The West Indies have a more modest competition (The Carribban Premier League) but it's growing. It seems to be the only form of cricket they are interested in. With all the contractual wranglings in the Caribbean at the moment at Test Level, it is the antithesis. The rough and ready, but comforting VW camper van. The Bangladesh Premier League is corrupt, and has a lot of problems so I can't really compare this with the others but I guess for the sake of this metaphor it can be a car as well. Let's call it a blacked out BMW and move away from it quite quickly.
At the moment the T20 competition in England is getting lost. It's not special. It's not bad, but it doesn't hold the excitement. The county championship and especially Test Cricket are Rolls Royce's (although a bit ageing and will probably need a service at some point soon). The T20 competition is a Ford Mondeo. A bit rubbish. I'm sure the ECB will change things as there are all sorts of ideas flying about, from an FA cup style competition advocated by Midhael Vaughan, to a similar franchise competition to the IPL and BBL. Whatever happens, they need to get the balance right. A Rolls won't work with T20. If a competition can be made that feels like an Aston Martin the I think the ECB would've got it just about right..
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