TMS gears up for Twenty20
91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 Live's coverage of this season's Twenty20 Cup gets underway on Wednesday with interest in the tournament at an all-time high.
Twenty20 has been on what seems an unstoppable roll since the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last year.
But the announcement over the weekend of a highly lucrative "Champions League" which will feature the finalists of this year's Twenty20 domestic cup has added even more spice to this season's competition.
The money on offer in the Champions League is potentially life-changing for many county cricketers. I remember speaking to some players when the competition first started back in 2003 who admitted that although it would probably be fun, they were not going to be taking it too seriously. I can tell you the players taking part from Wednesday onwards will be taking it very seriously indeed.
We'll have more details of what Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford is planning shortly, which could include both the much-hyped "" match in Antigua plus a quadrangular competition to be played at the end of each season at Lords. Listen out for a special interview between Jonathan Agnew and Sir Allen coming shortly on TMS.
You can also add to that more talk of an "English Premier League", not to mention another round of games (possibly before the end of the year) - and who knows what the so-called "rebel" Indian Cricket League has planned.
Like so many others I do fear the effect on the Test game. It is easy for us in England to be complacent about the strength of interest in Test cricket because we enjoy such fantastic audiences at our grounds. However, if you have seen the poor attendances for the West Indies v Australia Test series so far you do begin to worry.
As always we would like to hear your views on these subjects, and I am sure they will come under plenty of discussion during the next few weeks when TMS Cricket goes into limited overs mode.
Coverage of this season's domestic Twenty20 Cup begins on Wednesday with a really exciting double-header. The Five Live Sports Extra coverage begins at 1715 BST for commentary on the holders Kent v Sussex and then the floodlit game at the Rose Bowl between Hampshire and Middlesex.
Not only is there the extra spice of the Champions League money, but also the fact that England one-day players will be allowed to play on Wednesday - so listen out for the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright, Dimitri Mascarenas and Owais Shah.
Our radio commentary team on Wednesday includes Simon Hughes, Phil Tufnell, Arlo White, Alison Mitchell, Alex Tudor and Kevin Howells.
Phil, Arlo and Alison will then be on duty this coming Friday at Old Trafford for the NatWest Twenty20 international between England and New Zealand, joining Jonathan Agnew and former New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan.
Radio commentary on that game will be on Five Live Sports Extra, Radio Four long-wave and on the 91Èȱ¬ Sport website from 1715 on Friday, while will be providing live text commentary on the website throughout the match.
Comment number 1.
At 10th Jun 2008, morgantheorgan wrote:The news page states only Kent, Worcestershire and Somerset have players without ICL connections.
Glamorgan though are playing IPL player Herschelle Gibbs as the overseas player for the competition and NOT Jason Gillespie (ICL) who is rested for the competition
Therefore Glamorgan will not be affected if they went on to reach the final. They would be eligible for the Champions Trophy
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Comment number 2.
At 10th Jun 2008, Wigs666 wrote:Read this blog, for some opinions on Twenty20 cricket and England...
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Comment number 3.
At 10th Jun 2008, captainoldandfat wrote:Probably not the forum to place this but......
I believe that, although this coverage is a positive move, the 91Èȱ¬ in general give cricket very short shrift vastly underestimating the affection that it is held in this country - Yes even the County game, Cricifo get 60Million hits a year on the County scores, not bad for an "irrelevant" game! But you struggle to get the end of play scores on the radio (schedules being shunted around for football etc.) and have zero chance on the TV.
I appreciate that this is not going to change quickly and indeed there maybe considerable costs involved in substantially increasing coverage - However in the digital age when 5 extra is largely unused surely it would not be beyond the realms of possibility to fill the empty air by making a show out of the various local radio commentaries already carried on the internet?
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Comment number 4.
At 10th Jun 2008, SJonesmustreturn wrote:Test match cricket will never die but people have to work out what spectators really want. The IPL became visually v dull after 2 weeks as seen 1 six seen em all sort of. Test cricket is the purest from of the game so let's not all chase the dollar please???
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Comment number 5.
At 11th Jun 2008, mautan wrote:Looking at the teams playing in the 20-20 cup, other than Essex, Durham and one more which I don't remember, all have been potentially disqualified! All have ICL players, and if ECB goes down on their knees in front of Modi and BCCI, ITS GAME OVER for at least 12-14 counties as far as Champions League is concerned.
So there is a genuine prospect of two counties who lose will still be invited as they will be the only one's without ICL connection..
Makes all of us wonder...what is it that is so wrong with ICL?? Why is it being termed 'rebel'? How is it being different to, say. playing for Lashings?...Just one answer, ICL provides compitition to BCCI, Lashings doesn't.
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