The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recently elaborated on its plan to introduce a franchise based T20 competition which would attract the crowd and liven up the cricketing structure in the country. Based on the functioning of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL), the tournament will be an 8 team affair which will take centre stage in 2020.
Backing the cricket board to fully come out on its promise, England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan was beaming with optimism. The southpaw, who recently led the England team in India, was of the view that this was a much-needed change for England. Morgan also mentioned that such an intense competition would add quite a lot to the game in England.
“Change is always difficult but I don’t think this is change,” Morgan said. “It probably should have happened a while ago. We’re always going to have the same cricket fans unless we do something differently. “It’s a huge responsibility in growing the game. People are falling out of love with the game because it’s not engaging enough with the public.”
“There’s an intention to have a lot of games on free-to-air, which is a huge part of it,” Morgan added. “One of the biggest turning points in my generation has been the 2005 Ashes. To have a lot of people, especially in and around London, who aren’t necessarily into cricket talking about cricket is awesome, and to get that back it’s going to be as big a change as taking cricket to free-to-air.”
Morgan added that the general viewers needed their dose of excitement on an annual basis, and the competition would offer just that. “You cannot wait four years for an Ashes series or two years for a Champions Trophy to engage with the public,” he said. “It’s got to be continuous.
Taking the CPL’s example as a way of success, Morgan said, “The examples are round the world.” “And I think there will be more – as time goes on, we’ll see other countries produce franchise leagues. The CPL’s a good example – they took it to America. That was a huge hit, and they are going to take more games again next year.”