New Delhi:Not agreeing with England Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Colin Graves that the proposed 100-ball format is being mulled as cricket doesn’t appeal to a younger audience, former England spinner Graeme Swann said that it is just a way to fit the TV schedules.
Same-same
“It will be exactly the same as T20 cricket if they get the world’s best players in it,” Swann said. “There’s the thing that Colin Graves is barking on about: ‘It’s because kids don’t like cricket.’ They do, Colin. Turn up at my cricket club where I take my son on a Friday night — there are 150 kids every week. Hundred-ball cricket is being done very blatantly to fit the TV schedules, since there is only a small window to get the game on, so they’ve tried to squeeze it in.”
There has been much talk about the “concept” for England’s new short-form competition planned in 2020 with the players still to get fully on board. Although the reduction from 20 overs (or 120 balls) per innings is minimal, it is thought the change will help to ensure games fit comfortably into a three-hour window, with all the matches expected to finish by 9pm. “It’s because of the TV rights,” Swann said.
“But then to insult people’s intelligence by claiming that it’s something else, that’s why there’s uproar at the moment,” he added.
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