Do or Die for ECB?
March 29th, 2008
Lord’s and the Brit Oval are considering initial offers to stage games
involving an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise this season. MCC and
Surrey have been approached by organisers of the new competition, as all 18
counties come to terms with the significant impact that it could have on the
game this season.
Having secured the most lucrative television deal in cricket history, worth
$1billion (about £501million) over ten years, the IPL is understandably keen
to expand beyond the inaugural tournament, which runs from April 18 to June
1. Those games have been allocated venues in India, but they are hopeful of
staging what would be closer to exhibition matches in London.
Paul Sheldon, the Surrey chief executive, declined to confirm that Surrey have
been targeted by the IPL, while a spokesman for MCC said: “We are not making
any comment on this story at the moment.”
A suggestion that Hampshire have been contacted was denied by the club last
night, although they would be interested in playing hosts.
A spokesman for the ECB said that the board was “working tirelessly” to review
the options available for the Twenty20 Cup in 2008 and a proposal emanating
from Giles Clarke, the chairman, to allow counties to field three overseas
players solely for the event may be passed as early as the second week of
April, in time for the summer.
With a BBC survey this week revealing that only two counties envisage no
potential threat from the IPL or the “rebel” India Cricket League (ICL), the
belief is growing that, having been slow to build on the momentum of the
first seasons from 2003, the English game must now act quickly to
reinvigorate the format.
Sheldon, speaking in general terms, said. “We are at a pivotal moment in the
history of cricket. It is inevitable that the franchise system will explode
internationally sooner rather than later and we want to be in pole position
to exploit the potential of that with our wonderful ground and geographical
location.
“We do not want a breakaway situation. We will see what the ECB come up with
in rescheduling our own Twenty20 and we hope it will involve franchises.
That would be the biggest commercial opportunity that we might be able to
exploit. We are open-minded about discussions with people who are
potentially going to push this forward.”
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Dimitri Mascarenhas revealed that the IPL was a hot topic in the England
dressing-room during at least the one-day leg of the recent New Zealand tour while Lalit Modi, one of the
leading architects of the competition, has said that some of the senior
players in the squad would be keen to follow Mascarenhas if the timings
suit.
Sean Morris, the new chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’
Association, has been in regular contact with the ECB over what he described
as the “totally unique” opportunities presented to top players. He warned
that, without understanding, the England team could be “decimated of its
star players.”
The ECB was given another headache yesterday when Niranjan Shah, the secretary
of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said that a complaint will be
lodged after Mushtaq Ahmed, of Sussex, and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, of
Yorkshire, were given permission to play for their counties this year,
despite their appearances in the ICL.
Both players received clearance from Pakistan via No Objection Certificates,
leaving the ECB on dangerous legal territory if it sought to extend bans
already imposed on five ICL players.
Shah said: “We will take up the issue since the two counties are under the
jurisdiction of the England board.”
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