World sport is obviously suffering from a period of extreme uncertainty at the moment, with major competitions and events being cancelled or moved.
Perhaps the most notable to be shifted is the 2020 football Euros, which has now been delayed by a full year to accommodate domestic football calendars. With the men’s T20 World Cup due in Australia later this year, there was a fear it too might be moved, but it seems that won’t be the case, for now.
First Post reports that the event is still set to go ahead as planned, although that is sure to be under review as the year progresses. At present though, us cricket fans do still have something to look forward to. With the competition due to start on October 18th, I sincerely hope we’re through this coronavirus nightmare by then.
Being an England supporter I’m obviously very keen for the tournament go ahead. We lifted the 2019 (50-over) World Cup title after heading into the tournament as favourites, as this infographic by Bwin Sports reminded me, and we’re likely to be amongst the favourites down under too. What’s more, I think we handle the pressure of big occasions pretty well.
Although we’re currently third in the ICC T20 rankings, I actually think we’re a bit better than that. The T20 game is something we seem comfortable with despite floundering somewhat in Test cricket. With the 2019 World Cup success still fresh in the memory, there’s a really good chance we can add another title to the trophy cabinet. The players will certainly be up for it after coming so close last time.
Although there’s always an element of luck in the shortest form, and anyone can beat anyone on a given day, I think the other teams will fear England more than most. Hosts Australia will also be dangerous – the ICC rankings have them second to Pakistan – and home advantage is sure to work in their favour.
As for Pakistan, it will be interesting to see how Mohammad Amir goes. He retired from Test cricket in July 2019 to concentrate on the white ball game and is currently impressing in the Pakistan Super League with Karachi Kings. Although I was very disappointed when Amir turned his back on red ball cricket, he’s a fantastic talent and my forgiving side is pleased to see him doing well again. Pakistan’s T20 form has been really good in recent times so they’ve got a good chance.
I’ve also read that another long-retired hero might feature in Australia. AB de Villiers stepped back from international cricket in 2018 (was it that long ago?) but he’s refused to rule out appearing in the tournament. Whether the Cricket Boks decide to pick him though is another matter completely. Things are rarely straightforward as far as South African cricket is concerned.
The key now is obviously to see if the event goes ahead. I imagine the authorities are absolutely desperate to end a tough year with a positive conclusion. With almost every large sporting event set to be cancelled for the foreseeable future, the T20 World Cup is potentially the light at the end of the tunnel.
Given that sports fans might have been starved of action for months, it might even end up being one of the most eagerly-anticipated cricketing events for a while. Although I much prefer Test cricket to white ball contests, the World T20 is always a fun competition that’s worth watching.
James Morgan
“I’m not an expert on that but thank goodness for broadcasting money that has held the game together, because without it some counties could have gone to the wall already”.
So writes Nasser Hussain who works for said broadcaster. He also thinks the season could be extended to late October (remember the weather last October?). Finally, he argues that if cricket was started behind closed doors it would only take one cricketer to test positive for it to be closed down again. Given that a sizeable minority of the population carry coronavirus at any time, all they’d have to do is test players and they’d find a positive.
Latest word on the 16.66 is that it’ll be postponed to 2021 if less than two months of the season can be played.
I wonder if it will take place in it’s current format even if there are two months of the season left, reading between the lines. There seems to be a bit of a move to play the Blast first if the season can only start on July 17th–partly because it involves more players and partly because spectators numbers are more certain. That would leave the Hundred being played entirely in September, which makes it look like an afterthought.
The other alternative would be playing the Hundred first and leaving the Blast finals day till Sept 19th–and good luck with trying to fit in a day of around thirteen hours two days away from autumn!
Hussain’s argument about playing in October is ridiculous unless he’s suggesting doing it abroad–has he seen what ground conditions are like if it rains in October?!
I wonder if what will happen should the season not start until mid-July is the Blast first, probably with Finals day on the August bank holiday weekend, and then a franchise T20 competition in Sept with the Hundred teams, as a sort of trial run and to satisfy broadcasters–with maybe a three-conference Championship alongside it where everybody plays everybody else once.
PS Re de Villiers–I think it’s fairly clear already that if Boucher has anything to do with it, de Villiers is absolutely certain to be playing in the World T20.
I see Cook has been wheeled out to advocate for no CC at all. Quite why no CC is better than a reduced CC escapes me but that’s what they’re laying the ground for.
ECB “assistance” to the counties going to be in the form of loans, not grants.
Some media pressure appearing that county players should accept pay cuts. Currently the players’ union is currently opposed except on certain conditions (most importantly, that there is a date for play to resume). Past performance doesn’t suggest the chances of the union standing firm are particularly high.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that England players will not have any pay cuts. Central contracts don’t allow it. Needless to say, there’s no mention of administrators or coaches taking pay cuts. Harrison could take a 95% cut and be on UK average salary. It might be remembered that opening a greater wedge between elite players and those who play in the domestic competition was the agenda behind the Australian pay dispute.
Slight amendment to yesterday’s comment: some of the media are reporting England players will have a £200,000 pay cut.
There’s apparently a meeting on the subject later this week so it looks like there’s some briefing going on ahead of that meeting. Of course nobody’s briefing how much of a pay cut administrators and coaches are going to take.
DM claiming some counties want to oust Graves if the 16.66 is postponed. Not unreasonably they’re pointing out that the rationale for Graves staying on was to oversee its introduction so if that is no longer happening then Graves should go. The big underlying issue is that to go on to the ICC Graves needs to be on his domestic governing body and the election (which, last I heard, was to be contested) is in June.
The article also points out that asking their players to take pay cuts when 16.66 players could be on £125,000 for a second job is something some counties are a bit queasy about.
It is May now till now we didn’t have any update on ICC T-20 World Cup. What will be the schedule? Will it is postponed till 2021 or any other ideas ICC have?