I asked this in the England - S. Africa thread and got pointedly ignored so maybe I should take the hint. However I'm a persistent bugger so can someone please tell me what the EPL 20-20 league is about, is it cities rather than counties and what chance a Scottish or Irish 'team' being allowed in (no I'm not joking)?

The report I just saw - it looks like it's the 18 counties plus 2 foreign teams to make up either 2 leagues, or 2 divisions, of 10.

Three separate suggestions as at present.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12123_3820905,00.html

Bradshaw/Stewart proposal
* Nine Franchises
* Games played at Test venues
* 57 matches
* Player auctions

Soper proposal
* All 18 counties involved
* Played in two divisions
* Promotion and relegation after three years
* Minimun capacity of 18,000* for grounds in top division but grants for redevelopment available

Clarke proposal
* All 18 counties involved
* Two teams from IPL
* A Stanford All Stars XI
* Played in two divisions

Which one was this then?

That's going to be the proverbial dog's breakfast, innit?

Gangster Octopus wrote:

QUOTE:
Which one was this then?

"none of the above"?

Why don't they just go the whole hog and get Maurice Lindsay in to administer it on behalf of the broadcasters.

Sorry. I meant on behalf of the ECB, the competition, and the counties.

So easy to confuse them, init?

Latest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/7510080.stm

E10 Rifle wrote:

QUOTE:
Latest

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/7510080.stm

Um. Isn't that one and the same as the extorionist eight-limbed one has said?

I thought E10 was making a subtle dig at the lunacy of having two simultaneous and similar (though a bit different) 20/20 competitions in "England" (apparently including Glamorgan for these purposes) at the same time.

That's English cricket bosses for you, taking the goose that lays the golden eggs and forcing it into prostitution until it becomes infertile.

QUOTE:
what chance a Scottish or Irish 'team' being allowed in

None it seems, though we're still on for the 50 over thingy. I'd prefer this competition to be held in July and August rather than May and June, as the longer games are more affected by early season bad weather.

Two separate 20-20s seems over the top. Won't it dilute interest?

The only pleasure I take from this is that it's a marginably better idea than the franchises plan that was being batted around by 'big' clubs (Hampshire?) a few days ago. The idea of two overseas sides seems to me to rob the 'English Premier League' of any competitive tension, of any credibility. But then there's another EPL that is amazingly popular despite having no competitve tension, so maybe its the way to go.

I'm not sure that it's Twenty20 overkill: it's just cricket in a managable chunk that people can go and watch after work. I think the new Twenty20 Cup - played on Fridays after work through July and August - is actually a good move.

I'd just like to see Yorkshire play Twenty20 down here occasionally.

You can see how this is gonna pan out can't you. Twenty20 overkill will lead to some attendances tailing out, whereupon opportunistic voices will seize the moment to argue for a more "streamlined, elitist" version of the new league, consisting of only "viable, strong" counties (ie those with nice big Test grounds). I've got a lot of sympathy with yer bog-standard county committees here - they pioneered Twenty20 in the first place and now others with less connection to the game want to rip it from them.