Mitchell: Is the T20 Blast’s future in doubt?
Alison Mitchell looks at the caveats we face if the new city-based T20 tournament kicks in from 2020
It is happening. The ECB has the green light to press ahead with its proposed eight-team Twenty20 competition from 2020, with the aim of putting cricket front and centre of the nation’s summer sporting psyche once again.
The extent to which the new competition permeates into the broader consciousness of the general public though, depends on its entertainment value, its accessibility and above all, its visibility.
The incredible Ashes success of 2005 should have been the launch pad for cricket and cricketers to be household names for generations to come.Yet live international cricket and domestic finals disappeared from free-to-air TV at that point. Despite the efforts of the charity ‘Chance to Shine’ to grow cricket in state schools, the power of the mass audience cannot be underestimated. A six-year-old at the time of that 2005 series could now have reached 18 without seeing any live English cricket on television through his or her most formative years, unless their parents desired to, and could afford to, subscribe to it. What sport do they aspire to play when they’re in the garden? Which sportsmen and women do they try to emulate? If they can’t see cricket, you can’t expect them to answer cricket.
Pay TV’s millions have been a crucial part of the ECB’s income over the last twelve years, but ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison speaks great sense when he emphasizes the need to now balance revenue with reach, by aiming to have eight of the 36 matches shown on freeto-air TV. It is vital. However, is eight enough to make the sort of impact the game needs and to warrant the upheaval the new tournament is creating? It surely needs to be more. Also, what constitutes free-to-air is a critical consideration. In order to genuinely reach new audiences, ie, the viewer who wouldn’t go looking for cricket, the product must be on one of the mainstream channels; BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5. Yes there are other channels, as well as digital platforms and the opportunity to distribute video clips via social media or to stream games on YouTube, but for the tournament to become a central conversation piece across 38 days of the summer, the listed channels still hold the biggest pulling power.
The Big Bash League, which is what this new competition is based on, was launched in its current format in December 2011. It was initially in existence for two years on Fox Sports (subscription–based Sky equivalent). It only took off in the way that it has after being picked up by Network Ten in 2013/14.
Ten is a mainstream, free-to-air commercial channel, the equivalent of ITV. It was only when matches began to feature on this habitual platform at the same time every night for six weeks that the tournament’s profile grew into what it is today. At the same time, Cricket Australia has developed a product on the ground that is rich with entertainment, provides a friendly and welcoming environment for families and children and, crucially, is affordable.
Ten have played their part by employing a dynamic and diverse commentary team – men and women – who add to the entertainment value, whilst still keeping an emphasis on the cricketing contest. They didn’t get every single thing right from the start (the idea of crossing mid-match to a reporter who was watching with a family in their living room was soon binned) but they have since hit on a winning formula, and an audience reach that has been the envy of the ECB.
There is also a financial reason to introduce a sellable domestic tournament. As well as the income generated from TV deals at home, a significant proportion of the ECB’s income comes from Indian broadcasters paying to show cricket in England on their screens in India. Harrison warned earlier this month that the ECB can’t be complacent about this money stream, stating that the appeal of international cricket abroad is coming under increased pressure from domestic Twenty20 Leagues. By driving forward this new domestic league, the ECB hopes to create a product that can be sold for good money in its own right, thereby making the game in England less financially reliant on overseas markets for Tests.
So what will make the competition a desirable product? Whilst the cutting down of 18 county teams to eight city-based teams has been a huge bone of contention, the streamlining of talent will make competition for places intense and so the standard ought to be high. Only 96 spots will be available for more than 300 professional cricketers in England and Wales. The T20 Blast has previously featured an array of exciting overseas talent, so there is no reason why that won’t translate to the new competition – it will hopefully attract more. The T20 will take place while England are playing Tests, so England’s best white-ball only cricketers will be available to play, but the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes will be otherwise engaged. With the calendar the way it is, fans will have to suck that up. The beauty of this new competition though, is that – provided it is visible enough on TV – it could make stars out of so many more cricketers than the established international players.
If supporters want to ensure Test cricket remains the number one priority in the game, they will need to keep filling the grounds, because the ECB will be doing everything it can to draw big crowds for the new T20. On the ECB’s part, they need to make Test cricket affordable to its market and to keep remunerating Test players better than a domestic T20 contract can.
The aspect of the schedule that is difficult to comprehend, is having the County 50-over competition running at the same time as the new T20. The 50-over competition will effectively be a competition for ‘the rest’. The ECB have billed it as an opportunity for county supporters to see young up and coming talent, but it flies in the face of ECB Director of England Cricket Andrew Strauss’ mission to make England a force in all white ball cricket. Maybe he is only concerned with the 2019 World Cup on home soil, or perhaps he suspects 50-over cricket might cease to exist much beyond 2020. It could be argued, admittedly, that performing in an intense, more pressurised T20 competition is better preparation for any form of international cricket than playing in an 18 team County competition in front of smaller crowds. But if 50-over cricket continues to be a viable form of the international game, the country’s future players will need to learn to construct longer white-ball innings somewhere.
Will the T20 Blast survive? Like the County Championship and the OneDay Cup it has been ring fenced, but it’s difficult to predict how long it will be viable to keep it that way.Yes, a trophy will be on offer for the winning county, but the Blast will become a trial for every player who wants to earn a pick in the draft for the new competition. Perhaps that is raison d’être enough, along with keeping T20 cricket going at grounds that won’t see much of the new competition. It has been well documented that ticket sales for the Blast have grown by 60 per cent over the last four years. Will the Blast still attract those crowds though, when a new, funkier rival is following hot on its heels? How much T20 is too much T20?
My last question is, where does women’s cricket sit in all of this? If the ECB is serious about growing the game, taking it to new audiences and making it visible, then it needs to be making women’s cricket more visible as well. This is a huge opportunity. Any discussions with free-to-air broadcasters must include an agreement to televise the best of the women’s game too. Then it really will be a revolution.
“A trophy may be on offer, but the Blast will become a trial for every player “looking to earn a place in the new competition