The Hundred could be scrapped

[sledger]

Obviously we'd have to make sure the Scottish team's finances were heavily audited

Yeah, couldn't have any campervan-related shenanigans.

 

[Third_Man]

Yeah agree 100%.

You can't just create teams and then slap the name of a random town (because let's face it, "Manchester Originals" would be ditched and moved to Southend or somewhere if there was as little as a whiff of this being more profitable) on them and tell people they must care about them.

This isn't helped by the fact that the branding is so heavily linked to packets of crisps tbh. I can never remember which team is which. Whenever I've watched anyway I've just took the approach of "Ah it's Quavers against Skips" today, or whatever.

In fact come to think about it, if the teams were just representing packets of crisps rather than supposedly representing places, I think I would have cared about it more ironically.

That's always the argument maybe as there are plenty of examples of such in the NFL. But it is never likely to be the case in the ECB's franchise sides as they need a Test Match Ground to be based on.

Can't see them even going to Oxford, Berkshire or Cambridge even though there is plenty of money there.

 

[Third_Man]

Franchises are really hard to get fanbases rolling initially in established sporting landscapes, especially outside cities. You need a generation of kids to grow up watching them. They also vampire support for the already established sides. The counties are correct to hate the franchises.

Franchises wont have any creditability until they produce their own players. If they destroy county cricket they destroy the pool of players they are drafting from.

 

[trundler]

Franchises wont have any creditability until they produce their own players. If they destroy county cricket they destroy the pool of players they are drafting from.

They've already produced world class players like Bumrah and Rauf as well as serviceable franchise level players like Natarajan. I'm not sure if Warner counts but he was a T20 biffer he was ever a test player. Franchises definitely could develop their own talent hunting programs in the future. There may be a bias towards bowlers though. You can pick a bloke who bowls 90mph and hoops it off the street and teach him to bowl cutters and you have someone that's plenty good enough for league level.

 

[honestbharani]

A county championship made up of four franchises imo. They could call it "The Four".

The winning side gets to enter the stage to Horsemen's theme from old WCW.

 

[Starfighter]

Didn't mean franchise but just allow more overseas players.

Why?

 

[Pothas]

Why not?

Raises the quality of the competition.

 

[Starfighter]

Why not?

Raises the quality of the competition.

County cricket is not better at producing England players than it was prior to 1968.

All it'd mean is potential top order batsmen, genuine quicks and spinners will find their paths blocked. Especially the latter two who have long been a victim of the difficulty of developing in the English conditions and selection culture.

It's been 55 years to observe that even though it may mean better players in the competition at any given moment, which should make the quality higher, it doesn't mean the end results in terms of England players are any better.

 

[honestbharani]

This would actually be great. Could offer the Scots independence if they won as something to motivate them.

Stop ripping off us. That is just Lagaan.

 

[Pothas]

County cricket is not better at producing England players than it was prior to 1968.

All it'd mean is potential top order batsmen, genuine quicks and spinners will find their paths blocked. Especially the latter two who have long been a victim of the difficulty of developing in the English conditions and selection culture.

It's been 55 years to observe that even though it may mean better players in the competition at any given moment, which should make the quality higher, it doesn't mean the end results in terms of England players are any better.

There are 18 counties, still tons of opportunities for English players. We had this argument in football for years and now England produce loads of good players.

 

[Starfighter]

There are 18 counties, still tons of opportunities for English players. We had this argument in football for years and now England produce loads of good players.

Well it's been 55 years in County cricket, maybe you can run down the equivalent period in football. And obtain a neutral non-UK judgement on the quality of English footballers over the year (I don't follow football so can't judge) - in any case you would need to show an association. The period of arguably the highest quality overseas players with the West Indian peak was a rather weak time for England, and I think cricket is more relevant than football.

There are only ten counties in Division 1 so argument that you can just move elsewhere isn't as strong as you think unless you believe there's no difference between the two.

 

[andruid]

There are 18 counties, still tons of opportunities for English players. We had this argument in football for years and now England produce loads of good players.

...for other nations. I agree with Pothas. Glibalize or perish

 

[Pothas]

I would be fairly amazed if England failing to produce cricketers actually anything to do with overseas players. Surely it was more a case of other countries catching up.

England's strongest era in recent decades also happened at a time when there was a huge amount of talk about there being too many kolpak players.

 

[Yeoman]

If we view domestic cricket purely as a vehicle to produce international players, then there is a balance to be struck between overseas players raising the standard and, by the same token, denying opportunities to local players.

I would argue however that domestic cricket also exists as a competition in its own right, and one in which the greater part of players are ideally drawn from a team’s own catchment area rather than brought in from outside. Only then will teams truly represent their areas and compete in a meaningful way.

NB I appreciate that in some sports, notably football, this ceased to be the case some time ago however I think it is still an ideal to aspire towards.

 

[Starfighter]

...for other nations. I agree with Pothas. Glibalize or perish

So you agree with someone provably wrong.

Also you need to consider the context of First Class county cricket. It is not remotely comparable in terms of audience to football which in turn limits the investment anyone would want to put into it to greatly raise play - and it never will have the audience. And the major T20 league runs over the first part of the season. If you look at the quality of overseas players currently signed it's not exactly tremendous overall. Unless players are willing give up T20 options, endure large workloads, or quit playing their own domestic competitions you aren't going to be finding this fount of talent. Cricket doesn't have nearly the depth to draw from that football does.

 

[Pothas]

Obviously it wouldn't be like the 70s or 80s with the absolute best players in the world but there are still plenty of good red ball players around that could come over, is not like every county would be forced to use 3 or 4 players. That still raises the standard which can only be a good thing.

 

[GIMH]

I agree with Pothas. In football England have just had our best three tournament run since 66-70 and the Prem is filled with foreign talent.

I suppose the counter argument is the quality of player. Having top-class players in county cricket would allow ours young talent to test themselves against the best; they’d learn so much.

 

[Third_Man]

They've already produced world class players like Bumrah and Rauf as well as serviceable franchise level players like Natarajan. I'm not sure if Warner counts but he was a T20 biffer he was ever a test player. Franchises definitely could develop their own talent hunting programs in the future. There may be a bias towards bowlers though. You can pick a bloke who bowls 90mph and hoops it off the street and teach him to bowl cutters and you have someone that's plenty good enough for league level.

Sorry, what I meant and could have been more explicit was franchises in the UK. Those 8 which form part of the topic ...."the hundread could be scrapped".

 

[Starfighter]

I agree with Pothas. In football England have just had our best three tournament run since 66-70 and the Prem is filled with foreign talent.

I suppose the counter argument is the quality of player. Having top-class players in county cricket would allow ours young talent to test themselves against the best; they’d learn so much.

Did the period in the seventies when two overseas players were allowed in Championship matches lead to a clutch of high quality England players battle-hardened against the best? (No)

Is there actually any provable relationship between PL playership and England football results? And once again, why is football relevant when County Cricket does not and will never have the audience to make it wealthy enough to attract the best players? You might be forgetting the factor of money in football. And is what happens in one sport necessarily applicable to the another? The two strongest teams in cricket history were generated from two of the smallest FC competitions with few or no overseas players (not sure if Qld and Tas still had any). Most of the top tier overseas players came out of systems nothing like that being advocated for.

 

[trundler]

Sorry, what I meant and could have been more explicit was franchises in the UK. Those 8 which form part of the topic ...."the hundread could be scrapped".

Sorry, I just used your post as a platform to pen some thoughts about a topic that was previously brought up in this thread.