Rumours of Ashes overkill rubbished by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has rubbished rumours, which suggested that by holding three Ashes series in a span on two years will be an “overkill”.
ECB confirmed that it has plans to hold The Ashes three times in two years because of 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia.
According to the revised schedule England would host the 2013 Ashes and then they would be heading to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the winter of the same year for the next Ashes series 2013-14. This will help in avoiding a clash with the 2015 World Cup schedule.
Then the originally scheduled Ashes for 2017 would be brought forward in 2015 in England to prevent a long break between The Ashes series.
Clarifying the whole scenario, the ECB Marketing Chief, Steve Elworthy, stressed that the changes would help in maintaining the momentum in The Ashes.
“We want to break the cycle of the World Cup and Ashes arriving at once, get enough distance between the events, make sure the players have enough catch-up time and we want to protect the Ashes brand", he said while talking to the press.
He refused to accept that by having 15 Ashes Test matches in 24 months, the series would become over played and people would lose interest in it. “There's a huge resurgence for Test cricket right now, a massive wave of interest. With the home-and-away nature
of the Ashes, fans will really have something to look forward to. Everyone wants to see the arch-rivals meet", he said.
Test cricket has indeed seen an increase in interest from fans because of this year’s much hyped Ashes in Australia, which was retained by England after a 3-1 win.
The fact that England was looking to be a dominant side made it even more interesting. The English won the Ashes in Australia after 24 years. The Ashes also exposed the vulnerable state of the Australian cricket team these days.
According to reports both ECB and Cricket Australia (CA) are going to accept this proposal, which will benefit both sides. Australia will have time to make preparations for hosting the World Cup, while the English players, will not have to remain in Australia
for a period of almost five months, which they will if the new schedule is not enforced.
The 2015 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Australia and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.
Tags: