ICCCT in Twenty20 format?

[Occasional Fan]

Jonathan Agnew and Derek Pringle have both penned articles in the last couple of days suggesting that a Twenty20 format should be tried for the ICCCT. The suggestion is that this would provide some variety - rather than simply continuing what already seems like an interminable series of 50-over games - and, in Agnew's view, a real festival of cricket. Pringle suggests that, with the use of floodlights, three games a day could take place, which means the group sessions could be over in four days and the whole festival could be finished in five days' play.

I have to say there is something about this that appeals to me. I cannot see the ICCCT in the same light as the World Cup, or even as a mini-World Cup as it is presently being billed (in fact, I'd never even heard of this competition six months ago), so the idea of making it something genuinely different has some appeal to me. Expanding on Pringle's three matches a day idea, I would suggest that each three team group could be decided in one day - order of games to be determined by drawing of lots, since only one team in each group would be able to enjoy a lengthy break between games: the other two would have to play two games back to back (not necessarily a huge issue for 20-over games if you build in a forty five minute lunch break and the same for tea during the day). Day five as a rest day and the semis and final on day six.

The commercial problem, of course - and there always seems to be one - is that this would involve eight countries' players flying possibly half way around the world for only one day's competitive cricket. And there are only five crowds to pull in as opposed to the 15 which the present format implies. On the other hand, if it was five full grounds rather than 15 part sales, it may still work from a commercial viewpoint.

What do we think?

Read Agnew here and Pringle here.

[Rachael]

The arguments for the 20-20 version sound good to me: it's never going to eb avery serious competition so why not just go the whole hog.

[Richard Jenkins]

I's probably too late to do anything this time around, and the conest is set in stone, so in two years time maybe the20/20 format will be used.

[Occasional Fan]

Surely it's four years to the next one?

Just picking up on Rachael's comment that the ICCCT will never be very serious, well, to some extent I agree with that. But I saw on one of the websites that there is £300,000 for the winning team, which is no small amount, and some £10 million of profit from the first such tournament went into the ICC Cricket Development fund. Those numbers are surely enough to make the commercial considerations serious. I was surprised they were anything like this high. Given that all the profits from the tournament go to the development of the game in places where it is not well established, which seems a worthy cause to me, I'd expect the ICC to be looking pretty carefully at the projected financial implications before they leap on Aggers's and Pringle's suggestions.