This week the county cricket season gets underway in earnest (we'll ignore the frivolities of Sussex v MCC and the university matches). Given recent events in India, this could well be the last season as we know it.

The IPL has spread equal amounts of panic and excitement through the ranks of county moneymen: city teams, as proposed by the Surrey chief exec, seem a more likely prospect than ever before. Equally, the likes of Derbyshire and Leicestershire, not to mention Kent and Somerset, have reason to be more nervous than ever. Change is in the air, even in county cricket. You could smell it at the county press days: something is going to happen, and soon.

That being said, there are a surprising paucity of ideas as to where the domestic game goes next. City teams seem problematical to me: some of the country's cricket 'hot-spots' don't necessarily coalesce around a big city (and the game is arguably more popular in the countryside than in the cities). Yorkshire, for example: you won’t find many proud south Yorkshiremen following a Leeds team the way they would Yorkshire.

If we accept that things have to change, then this is my solution. There are two many county competitions, so the Pro40 goes, and is replaced by a Twenty20 league split into two halves (9 teams each), which runs through June and July into August. Teams play home and away. The top two teams from each league go into finals day. For the moment, the county championship and 50-over cup stay as they are. The quality has really improved in the former since two divisions came in.

As for this season, I think we're in for a repeat of last year: Sussex will win the title again; Kent will win one of the short-form titles (Twenty20 or Friend's Provident), and Durham the other. I'm not sure about the Pro40.

King On The Rye wrote:

QUOTE:
you won’t find many proud south Yorkshiremen following a Leeds team the way they would Yorkshire

Too fucking right!

I agree that there really is no point in the Pro40, even though it's the only tournament my county (Essex) have been much good at in recent seasons. There should only be three domestic competitions, reflecting the three forms of the game competed at internationally and in other countries' leagues (first-class, 50-over and Twenty20). It'd make more sense, perhaps, to run the Twenty20 throughout the season as a full league, rather than in short bursts in July. And the FP should be a straight knockout from the off, with no pointless "conferences", especially as these games hardly attract any more crowds than midweek championship games.

The championship should be preserved - it's not as bad as it's painted - and, pre IPL, has continued to attract high-calibre overseas players. It's never gonna pull in the crowds (though more effort could certainly be made), but then neither do the first-class state competitions in any other country.

And of course, there will always be a 'need' for county championship cricket because people always want to see a successful (or at least, good) England Test team.

I've been thinking that the whole system is screwed, for a long, long time.

One problem has been that I've actually struggled to find games on weekends, sometimes; particularly on Saturdays.

I'd actually be inclined to pushing County Championship games to all be day-night, too, so that you're not only left with the unemployed and pensioners who can regularly go to games. Matches that start at 2pm and finish at 10pm and cost, say, £4-5 to get into, would draw in lots of the after-work crowd, I think.

It would probably also get more TV coverage, and certainly at times more conducive to a decent audience.

I'd also scrap the 40 over competition, and stick with a bigger 20-20 and a 50 over one.

It might make sense to shift the 20-20 to being a city based competition. I don't yet see a case for moving the 4 day game to being city based, though.

Most of all, I just think that far too few people get a chance to see much 4 day county cricket, and therefore they aren't engaged in the way they are with other sports. And, basically, that's why county cricket is in trouble, and has been since I was young. It's the 4 men and their dogs scenario, and the ECB should be looking at radical ways to address this rather than their usual tin-pot tinkering.

Also, if the county season has to start a couple of weeks later because of the IPL, that's probably no bad thing either, as it's usually too cold and too wet to play and watch cricket in early April anyway.

I really could not support a team called Birmingham.

I think the biggest problem the County game has is the England team. People will turn up to watch the top county sides if England internationals are playing for them. Increasingly, that's not the case any more - mainly because England play an insane number of meaningless one-day internationals. How many are scheduled in this summer, between the two tours? It's something like 12, including 20-20 games, isn't it? Plus the six test matches?

I used to go with my Dad to watch Somerset play, because Botham and Richards were playing for them. Nowadays, Richards would be in Mumbai, and Botham would be spending his summer scratching his arse waiting to bat in a 20-20 game for England.

I read professionalist nostalgist Frank Keating's Graun column the other day- he says the county game has finally expired. But it hasn't been a major spectator attraction for decades- that was the whole justification for starting the limited over competitions in the 60s.

I think the championship can continue as a valid competition in its own right, not merely as feeder for and funded by test matches on TV. As others say, there are straightforward improvements- play under floodlights, over weekends etc.

Villa Warwickshire fans should be relieved it isn't Coventryshire (which was long the largest town thereabouts).

I'll admit that if four-innings cricket ever disappeared my eccentric interest in the game would certainly fall off. That said, I welcome the greater interest 20-20 brings, though I'm not sure the Indian viewers- and thus the paymasters- will love it to quite the extent suggested. They love Tendulkar and Dhoni, sure, but the next generation of stars might not be as good. For all that Boyd Rankin and other foreign imports will add exotic glamor...

I think cricket needs the County Championship even if the general public doesn't. So using a 20/20 premiership to subsidize the 4 day game is fine by me.

You can't call a Birmingham team Birmingham, for the same reason that Minneapolis teams are not called the Minneapolis Vikings or The Minneapolis Twins.

So we need a generic regional name like Arden, or something. Or just 'The Bears'.

Oh dear.

Simon Jones only bowled 3 overs (taking 1-2) for Worcs today. No more information yet, but doesn't look good.

He's got a stiff neck, doesn't sound too serious.

Look like another stellar season awaits the Bears.

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

QUOTE:
I think the biggest problem the County game has is the England team. People will turn up to watch the top county sides if England internationals are playing for them. Increasingly, that's not the case any more - mainly because England play an insane number of meaningless one-day internationals. How many are scheduled in this summer, between the two tours? It's something like 12, including 20-20 games, isn't it? Plus the six test matches?

I used to go with my Dad to watch Somerset play, because Botham and Richards were playing for them. Nowadays, Richards would be in Mumbai, and Botham would be spending his summer scratching his arse waiting to bat in a 20-20 game for England.

Agree with all this. At my home county easily the most recognisable and most marketable player is the real mighty Mudhsuden but he only plays for them about twice a year.

Which I guess is why clubs go for cheap Kolpak etc players instead of developing up young English ones, becuase once they reach a certain level you lose them, either to Test cricket, to a county with better facilities and support, or to both.

A fine start to the season for Vaughan, who makes an aggregate score of 2 against the students.

Bloody Wednesday fan...

Interested parties should check out CricInfo's ball by ball commentary on the inaugural match of the IPL between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders.

There is still 30 minutes to the first delivery, but Modi is currently quoting Nehru at the Washington Redskins cheerleaders.

And I may well be the only one here with even a marginal interest, but Brendon McCullum has just completed his century as the first opener in the first match in IPL history. He's currently on 102 off 55 balls, with 8 fours and 7 sixes.

Kolkata are 159/2 after 16 overs.