ECB continues with same T20 Cup format for 2011
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have decided to go ahead with the same format for the T20 Cup for the next year despite growing concerns of reduction in the interests in the tournament. The
Daily Telegraph reported that the ECB will give the format another go for the 2011 edition.
According to the format, the counties are divided into two groups of nine each and they play the other sides in the same group on a home and away basis. This had led to more than 150 games being played last
season.
The huge number of games had meant that the many of the games had failed to attract the crowds and led to many of the counties reporting monetarylosses in the tournament. This had led to speculation that
the ECB may look at changing the format and reverting back to the previous one where teams were divided into three groups.
However, the smaller counties had objected to the change in the format because they were still able to get in the audiences and hence earned a good sum of money from it.
Earlier, many of the English counties had hope that the board could take a decision on the format in order for them to allow them to begin their marketing campaign for next summer. With the decision taking
its time coming, the ECB had been criticised for the lack of leadership exhibited.
Unfortunately, this decision will not augur well for some of the bigger counties which had shown very poor crowds given that they had also hosted some of the international games. This meant that they suffered
from losses and had proposed to the ECB a reduction in the numbers. On other cause was that the tournament had to compete with the 2010 FIFA World Cup which meant that most of the fans were following the football tournament, resulting in the dwindling of crowds.
Tags: