The start of the English summer
The debate goes on about who will tour England to play two Tests at the start of next summer, and of course the IPL looms large. This Telegraph article claims that the ECB might try to get the IPL start date moved back 10 days but whether that is realisitic remains to be seen - Modi hasn't shown much flexibility so far so I'd be surprised if he started to be flexible now but it has to be worth a shot.
Given Modi has buckets of money, I wonder if the ECB have considered asking for financial compensation for every last penny that they wouldn't get if they play two less Tests next summer and in return allowing the England players to play in the IPL. That would be a one-off deal on the basis that the IPL is moved back to accomodate the first Tests of the English summer in future.
The ECB could be similarly flexible and move the date of the 1st Test of the summer slightly later - that would be to the benefit of the spectators in England who often don't see enough play in the May Tests given bad light/poor weather. Looking at the start date of the 1st Test last year it was 15th May, and all 7 Tests of the English summer were complete by 11th August. In previous years the 1st Test of the summer started on 17th May (2007), 11th May (2006) and 26th May (2005).
A start date towards the end of May should be emminently achievable and it would allow the England players who aren't selected for the IPL to get into form with their Counties prior to the Test series. Even those involved in the IPL could in theory play a 4-day match for their County prior to playing the 1st Test given that the IPL fits into 6 weeks and the last few days of that are only relevant to the teams that reach the semis. Last year the IPL ran 18th April - 1st June but if it started at the start of April, everything could be fitted in.
3 comments:
Just had a quick look at past Wisdens and the norm seems to have been to have the first Test of the summer beginning on the first Thursday of June, even in a two series summer - but often with ODI's before then.
Ed's plan should allow more emphasis on county cricket early in the summer before the first Test and there is no reason not to plat Test cricket in early September.
the sponsors and Sky would have to give their ok to that plan as there would be 2 tests less and I doubt they'd be happy?
Fair point but I wonder if, given the credit crunch, companies wouldn't mind a bit of money back that they had already paid. And the alternative is going to be a dull couple of Tests against a weak West Indies team or some other alternative, where the sponsors or Sky won't get the same value they would have expected from, say, 2 Tests v a full strength Sri Lanka.
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