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The matter of what's going to happen to the domestic game is being made far more complicated than I feel it need be!

The domestic game should always mimic the International Arena, thereby, providing up and coming players with the best possible chance of being sucessful when transitioning to playing for their country. This means, in my mind, there should only be 3 types of competition.

- The county championship as is, with 4 day cricket. Offering a true test of stamina, both of the mind and the body.

- The 50 Over-a-side 1 day game

- The 20/20 game


It's my opinion that 20/20 will eventually replace the 50 over game entirely... there will just be too much money in it to ignore. With the stalwarts of the game making sure that 5-Day tests remain as the champagne events of a tour.

To water the gamedown with any more variations, not only make it more complicated to follow, but dilutes the importance of each of the competitions and versions of the game. For an example of how this type of dilution can effect a competition, we only have to look as far as the Carling Cup in football. None of the major teams give a hoot about it, unless that is they win it and it's the only trophey they win that season... then ofcourse, it all of a sudden becomes important to that individual club, while no one else cares!!

My message, keep it simple, follow the international scene and minimise the comlication of having too many versions of the same game!


Gavin Ansell, Thatcham Town Cricket Club

Is Tuffers coming back at any point. I was laughing practically everytime he was given the mic.

Blowers: "What was your highest first class score Tuffers?"
Tuffers: "67. All with fours."
Blowers: "I think you're suffering from a spot of mathematical incontinence old thing"

Gough was excellent on 5 Live yesterday
I think he should cash in for the IPL next year, he would do well!

Why are we talking about 3 day cricket again? It led to contrived finishes and did not give players the chance to bat or bowl for test match timescales. Why not just give up the county structure all together and play franchise based 10 over beach cricket? I am sure it would be exciting and get bums on seats. After all that seems to be all that matters at the moment...

I have a suggestion for what could replace the 50 over format but still provide a "one day" match.

A Twenty20 test match:

two innings each of 20 overs, so a total of 80 overs in the day

follow on mark at 50 short of opponents first innings.

in a league format, bonus points could be given for winning by an innings or by 8 or more wickets. Obviously internationals or cups would be a winner takes all.

In an era of sports entertainment, what could be more exciting than the prospect of 40 wickets and a thousand runs in a day? Due to the nature of twenty20, no team would ever be out of the match completely until very late on.

Thoughts?

Incarcerator, did you read the article?!

"...and a revamped Pro40 competition consisting of two 20-over innings per side."

I think your suggestions re follow-on etc are good.

Although I agree with other posters that domestic competitions should generally reflect the international scene, it would be fun to see how this format works, and it's worth bearing in mind that 2020 wouldn't have come about if it hadn't been for domestic competition taking the lead.

Also - Tuffers for 'first team' place on TMS !

I have just been browsing the first class averages and doing my routine of wondering why Mark Davies of Durham never gets mentioned as an England candidate. Almost 200 wickets at under 23 a piece is fantastic. I am aware of his injury problems and of the fact that he is a medium pace bowler but there is plenty of scope for nagging accuracy at the top level despite the current fashion for wayward pace bowlers.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Thanks Adam for another wonderful series of TMS, unquestionable the most important broadcasting institution in Britain!

I have to say though I'm disappointed to hear that Mike Selvey wont be involved in an of the NZ tests. All the other contributers are good value, but Selvey's shrewd analysis should surely make him the first name on the team sheet.

Will he be around later in the summer?

Gavin is spot on.

We need fewer, more worthwhile competitions, which should feed into ythe international arena, although I would go further.

Suggest:

County Championship - remain at 4 days, as the only way to develop Test players - but perhaps fewer, high quality teams?

Revamp one day cricket around 20/20, with the gradual elimination of 40 or 50 overs, including international club /county competitions a la Champions League, as well as ODI

Phase out 50 over ODI, including the World Cup, which was rubbish last year, and replace with 20/20 World Cup only

A possible return to 3-day county cricket? Utter madness! A more realistic approach to the phenomenon of Twenty20? Most welcome. The "2 innings per side of 20 overs each" competition? Now that sounds interesting. But the tired old 50 over format is done - it's had its day, let it go. And finally, TEST MATCH CRICKET - what a fantastic game!!!

oh no!! where is henry? or should i call him ryan stringfellow?!

Hi Adam

Any chance that next week before the quarter-finals matches you could post on here or perhaps a new blog about the coverage.

I would be interested to know if you are planning on consentrating on one match or as in past years have commentators at all the matches and mixing and matching.

And also which commentators and summeirsers you are planning on using.

Thanks.

Was there really a problem with three-day cricket - or were other factors to blame for the mess we finished up with in the 1980's?

Three-day cricket was the structure in the fifties when England had possibly the best side in the world - world class batsmen, spinners, seamers and geniunely fast bowlers- so you can't tell me that the three-day game alone was to blame for England's gradual decline in stature.

I do think that post-1960's cricketers don't seem to have the dicipline of Geoffery's generation (how many England wickets in the last few decades have been lost due to poor shot-selection?) - but forever tinkering with the format of the game isn't going to resolve that.

It does make sense to go with 20-20 cricket; but I agree that 50 - and 60 overs cricket should be the forms that make way for it. We also need live test cricket back on terrestrial television.

I don't mind Tuffers just as long as they get rid of Aggers - I can't stand him!

It seems like the ECB may be overreacting to the IPL. The IPL is, after all, based on the 20/20 cup, which came from England. The big difference is not the format, it's money.

I think the focus should be on laying the groundwork for 20/20 cricket as an Olympic sport. It would be great if 20/20 became at least an exhibition sport in the 2020 Olympics.

By the way, the 2 20-over innings idea is intriguing. Can I suggest 9 innings? And to give back some advantage to the bowler, make the bat thinner and more rounded, give the batting side only 3 wickets per innings, allow fielders to wear gloves, and restrict the scoring area to 90 degrees. And maybe, to make scoring more challenging, instead of the striker's end and non-striker's end, there could be 4 bases to run... This may sound pretty radical, but there's a league in the U.S. making pretty good money with this sort of format. ;-)

rupertornelius @ 15.

Get rid of Aggers?? Now that WOULD ruin things for a lot of people; there's no-one amongst the commentators/summarisers that I actively dislike and there are many that I really like - finally, there are some that are a 'must' and, to me, Aggers, Blowers and Boycs fall into that 'Essential' category!

On the subject of commentators...does anyone know about my dear old thing Henry?
Is he confining himself to London these days, or has he not been chosen for the rest of the series?
Will he be involved for South Africa, or any of the ODI series?
Intersting to note, last year, when asked by Michael Parkinson why he was commentating less, he replied 'I fell like I'm not part of it any more...'

To hell with his mistakes and freudian slips....I think TMS would be losing a great asset if HB goes.
Anyone know?

Why break something that isn't really broken? The revamped 4-day country championship has been a sea change contributing to the fortunes of English Test cricket in my opinion

The problem with cricket in this country period, whether we like it or not, is - well, weather! This is why three day championship cricket is a total and utter nonsense. At least four days allows each team to bat for about a day each and provided the interuptions aren't too bad, more or less guarantees a result. The other problem is the frequency of use of the D/L method and a point I would make about T20 is that its sheduling should allow for a short (30 mins?) rain delay

Too often, and this also applies outside England, D/L has to be used for the one-day game, which over the years has come down from 65 to 60 to 55 (I think?) to 50 and back via 45 with the parallel JPL-40. Common sense would dictate a need to identify the number of overs GLOBALLY to minimise D/L; that is include recovery time. 40 would seem to fit the bill, with simplified fielding restrictions (2-4 out on the boundary) and one in a catching position being square on the offside at all times

Why bother with two innings of 20 - stupid! Yet why doesn't each team have T20 against two teams in a double-header scheduled on a Saturday or Sunday, in order to make a day of it. Far more practical bearing in mind the high cost of travelling to games

Another change I would make to whatever longer one-day format is decided is to allow bowlers to have an extra over so only "4.5" are needed; you don't have to make up the fifth. For example in 40 over games, bowlers can bowl 9 overs each and in 50 overs, 11 - and so forth

The problem with a 9-9 split in the Championship is that even in the blazing sun (?) of August one team cannot play. An 8-10 split with two-up-two-down on a 14 game schedule reduces the championship season by a month (you need a minimum of 18 weeks to get thru 16 games at the moment) without the need to play in the middle of April or after the equinox. It would mean that not all teams in the second tier would play each other twice initially(they could still play 16 games with teams in the top tier only playing tourists), but in time it could be expanded by upgrading Scotland, Ireland, Holland or minor counties until it is practical to have three tiers (even if there then have to be a few games initially between teams in the second and third tiers to make up the schedule)

Lastly we need to incorporate substitution in the longer form of the game. Clubs name a 14-man squad, four of whom must be qualified or potentially eligible for England and two under 25. One is a designated replacement to replace an injured player at any time, except for continuing an interrupted innings at bat. The other two may replace any player at the conclusion of both first innings. Thus spinners would be encouraged and young fast bowlers or an out of form player could be rested for the second half of the game. All three replacements, and indeed substitued players can be used as fielding substitutes as in the existing rules

My dear old things! Poor old HB has sadly become a bit of a self parody and I think it would be right to let him slowly exit stage left with the odd cameo allowed.
I've listened to him since the early 70's and used to enjoy him.. but these days I literally switch off when he comes to the mike.
I much prefer Arlo and Simon of the younger generation.. tuffers is refreshing but I am not sure we're ready for the summarizers to be such clowns.. Vic, Angus and Goochie get the balance right between serious analysis and gentle humour.. Tuffers does not.. possibly because he doesn't actually know that much about the game.. PD

Hi Adam

Thanks for keeping us updated about TMS, notice did not mention Goochie in your list of summarisers, I hope he is doing a test this year and not just relegated to Five Live, as enjoy his summaries along with Selvey, Marks and Fraser. Not sure yet about Tufnell, just cannot take him seriously.

Excellent Adam, thank you very much for letting us know the commentary details for Wednesday.

Looking forward to it and pleased to see the 4 commentators that have been picked.

I agree with PaulNewYork about Blowers. He's great at buses, pidgeons and witty asides, but to try to follow the game when he's doing ball-by-ball is torture. I can remember him telling us (twice) that Botham was out in the middle in the 2005 one-dayers (on each occasion he meant Flintoff).... and how many times have we been taunted by HE'S OUT!!....er, no he's not. Everyone's allowed their mistakes - we're all human, but I too find it very frustrating trying to follow the game when he seems more interested in witticisms than actually doing reliable ball-by-ball, and cocks things up far too much as a result.

Yes, it's obvious when the commentators find the cricket to be boring. The action becomes a side-product to discussion about hotel rooms, cake, buses.......
Much of this blokey stuff will be remembered with great nostalgia when it has disappeared and it does fill the gaps when there is no play....but it would be good if there was more accuracy when there is action. CMJ gets terribly muddled and confused. Blowers indulges his fantasies. Tuffers treats it all as a big joke.
It is quite amusing but I actually appreciate more professional commentary and analysis when play is in progress.

I feel I have to chip in in defence of Blowers - he really is a dear old thing and he never makes mistakes that can't easily be interpreted. I found the combination of Blowers and Tuffers particularly funny - I hope they have the opportunity to pair up again over the summer. The only member of the TMS team who really gets my goat is Geoffrey (shame on me - a Yorkshire woman!) I'm afraid I have be obliged to turn off occasionally when Boycott gets on his soapbox.

I thought Mark Saggers did a very good job in the TMS box last year. I'd like to hear more from him, if possible.

I like Blowers v much too and he adds a lot to the mix. Saggers and Mann are the best of the new ones.

Too much chat and gags between balls and not enough description (Blowers forte) nowadays in my opinion. This dissapates the atmosphere. We can have the gags and comment at the end of the over.

CMJ and Blowers (and Saggers) are also good interviewers and (depending on the interviewee) sometimes a better choice than the great Aggers. I hope Aggers doesn't end up doing all the lunchtime interviews.

That Lesley Garrett had had a good lunch

I for one do not enjoy the 20-20 game. Have been once.
I really enjoy county cricket and test matches. The longer version of the game is a much better test of skill, imo.
The current set up of the county game with two divisions with promotion and relegation is fine. What an esciting end to the 2007 season with the result decidid at the very end of the last dya of the season.

so - test match cricket is not always so weel supported in some countries - but is that any reason to rush after change for change sake.

I am looking forward to when I am no longer working and can follw the county game.
Recently some one said - Vic Marks I think,
on TMS - Simple 4day county game, one 20/20 tournament and one 40 0r 50 over competition and that would be it.

I went to see a day of an England v Bangladesh test in 2004 after my mate won a couple of tickets in a cricket magazine, and Tuffers and Gatting were doing a bit of japery on the mike on behalf of a sponsor which we were allowed into as competition winners. Tuffers was a right old laugh, and happily posed for a photo with me with a huge grin on his face. Gatting eventually obliged, but with a face like his middle finger had just gone through the toilet roll. All he wanted to do was hog the buffet. Tuffers is a top geezer who makes me wet myself laughing - who cares if he does not have the most astute of cricketing brains? He is the perfect foil to the more serious guys in the TMS box. They are a great combination.