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Originally Posted by Ernest  Then I pinch myself and realise this is 20/20 - the beggining of the end of Test cricket, and IMO that's just what it is. |
I've already gone on about this ad nauseam on another thread. I will just say this, though. Do you imagine that your favourite resteraunt is as profitable as the nearest McDonald's? I doubt it. However, it still attracts customers, many of whom presumably return to it. It may not be the most profitable business, but it still has a strong customer base who demands that it stays open. Thus, they support it by eating there. And so the same thing will happen with Test cricket. It may not be as profitable as the T20, but plenty of fans would still attend it, becasue there are purists (such as myself) out there. And that doesn't even take into account the viewing audience at home. And, for all the surveys that have been made available, none of the players themselevs have said that they want to not play Tests at all. Some of them have said that they might consider retiring early, which in the greater scheme of things isn't really that big a deal.
So in short, I consider it far more likely that Test cricket will exist as a niche market than die out all together. And look around you. Niche markets not only exist, but many of them thrive.
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Originally Posted by Statto Possibly try this as a blueprint
1. Players all remain contracted to existing county, but window for EPL agreed and all contracted players available. Now every side has about 50 eligible players to pick from.
2. EPL held in July (3 weeks?)
3. Regional squads picked on 20th June ish. Now players have approximately 2 months to put in sufficient performances in order to get selected.
4. Salary cap for selected squads in place, all players guaranteed minimum amount. Adds an actual incentive to play, rather than players being picked up with no significant reward.
5. Set number of overseas players permitted, limits on match squads ie 4 U25, 3 overseas. |
That's a very good model indeed. There probably wouldn't be any need for hiring international players by the bucketful, but Mr. Stanford has made his Carribean tournament a success without having to resort to hiring mercenaries. Based on the Fort Collins site which I've posted on the West Indies forum, his modus opernadi thus far has been to promote the cricket itself, and not the "razzmatazz" (to quote Mukul Kesevan) of it. I think if you allow each region to hire between two and four international players each, and allow only one or two to play per game, then there'll still be that sense of supporting one's own team, with the added excitement of watching Chris Gayle or Ricky Ponting turn out for side as well.
Anyhow, I personally think Allen Stanford has shown a great deal of common sense in the way he's run his Carribean tournament, so I wouldn't be surprised if what eventuates is very close to your model.