We need Big Bash razzmatazz in England’s T20, says Vaughan
Runs, wickets and catches need to take their place alongside off-field entertainment if England’s new Twenty20 competition is going to make an impact, according to Michael Vaughan.
The former England captain hailed Australia’s Big Bash League as having produced the correct blueprint for the T20 format following its remarkable success since its launch six years ago.
As well as the on-field action, Big Bash matches have featured the likes of acrobatic motorcyclists and a daredevil in a jetpack, innovations that have helped restore cricket’s place as the country’s leading sport.
Speaking at the Business of Sport conference yesterday, Vaughan said: “Cricket Australia deserve a lot of credit. They were clever. And I hate actually giving any Australians that kind of tag of being clever.
“But a few years ago, when they created the Big Bash, they sat down and said, ‘We have to put on the product of entertainment for the family. The cricket matches, the 20 overs, the 40 overs, that you’re going to see are secondary to what the family are going to be entertained by’.
“So, the activation of the fan was their No1 principle. It was making sure that when a family of four goes down to the arenas, they get entertained.
“‘We got entertained by all sorts and, by the way, Aaron Finch hit a couple of sixes as well’, which is exactly the way to go about it.
“Sixty-seven per cent of their ticket sales are through families, so they triggered the market absolutely right.”
Vaughan claimed English cricket had been “crying out” for a similar eight-team city-based competition, one that has only just been ratified by the England and Wales Cricket Board for launch in 2020. Family attraction: Michael Vaughan believes off-field entertainment is crucial to T20
He said: “T20 came to the market just over 10 years ago. We actually invented it in this country and then allowed all the other countries to make a load of money out of it.
“So, we are just a little bit behind the game. In 2020, we will see the launch of a new eight-team tournament in the United Kingdom, which is what it has been crying out for.”
He added: “I don’t think we were brave enough to deliver what India have done.
“It is quite difficult to change the thought process of 18 counties, very difficult to turn it around. They’ve just managed to do that, which has taken a lot of time.”