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is a very positive person, and often says to me “cheer up, things could be worse”.
And sure enough often they are
A couple of days ago Colin (London) sent me a fascinating article from City AM the London business daily freebie written by Ed Warner who had recently applied for the position of Middlesex Chairman – neither he nor any of the other candidates got the job.
He wrote about the 15 Member-owned counties (not Hampshire of course) and wondered what those members think about the “de-emphasising of cricket success” in the counties but he also observed that “without an influx of new cash the national body (ECB) will always call the tune” adding “throw in the explosion of T20 leagues around the globe, and the threat to the counties is severe”. He also noted that the investigation into racism in cricket is likely to carry significant implications for the game – meanwhile we learned of the departure of two of English cricket’s major sponsors (LV= and Cazoo).
Then, yesterday The Daily Telegraph carried a story “Counties fear exodus to overseas T20” as a consequence of the “rise of franchise cricket”. There are currently four major leagues occurring at the same time so that, for example, James Vince recently left his successful Big Bash team before the competition concluded to join a team in the UAE’s new International League, which doesn’t count as an official T20 competition.
The major worry for English county fans however is the new Major Cricket League launching in the USA in July which has significant financial backing from IPL teams. It is apparently “poised to sign some England white-ball specialists”. The county CEOs are meeting at Lord’s on Wednesday where Neil Snowball the ECB’s managing director of county cricket will make a presentation “on the growing threat”. It all sounds a bit like Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s – fetch your tin hat!
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Hampshire Cricket History 
As a former colleague of mine, who originally came from Christchurch, used to say “Things will get worse before they get even more worse.”
Comment by Colin Price January 21, 2023 @ 4:53 pmMore concerning is the fact that all of the teams in the new South Africa T20 and the new ILT20 in the Gulf are subsidiaries of IPL franchises. 3 of the 6 Caribbean T20 teams have owners in common with IPL franchises, although I am not sure they are organisationally related as the SA and UAE teams. Perhaps the time will come when a contract with one becomes a contract in all three leagues (although I am surprised that the owners have agreed that the inaugural ILT20 and the inaugural SA T20 should run in parallel). Then the USA league looks to have similar links
Comment by dmashala January 21, 2023 @ 7:43 pmBut it does look like Indian cricket is taking a foothold in cricket all over the world)
Sorry to be a pedant but the official title of the South African competition is the SA 20. The omission of the T is deliberate see https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/jan/12/there-is-no-t-in-sa20-and-maybe-no-future-for-venerable-south-africa-test-side
Comment by Colin Price January 22, 2023 @ 8:50 amCorrection noted – not the first in my life but probably the most instantly forgettable!! I don’t give a bugger what they call these things.
Comment by Dave Allen January 22, 2023 @ 10:05 amI read “The major worry for English county fans however is the new Major Cricket League launching in the USA in July which has significant financial backing from IPL teams. It is apparently “poised to sign some England white-ball specialists” and my immediate reaction was ….. good(bye)!
Comment by James January 22, 2023 @ 10:49 amAs well as the six team Major Cricket League which starts in July there is an associated twenty six team developmental competition called Minor League Cricket which features locally based players with the intention of bringing them up to major league standard. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_League_Cricket
Comment by Colin Price January 22, 2023 @ 10:26 pmI’ll get my my American father-in-law to apply for a try out. He captained his college side in Philadelphia. (Although he’s slowed down a bit since 1959.)
Comment by Hedgehog January 23, 2023 @ 3:24 amLovely (haven’t we all!)
Comment by Dave Allen January 23, 2023 @ 12:27 pmI think the new ECB Chair has county cricket in his heart and his head, a help, and hopefully all the pro red-ball cricket opinions expressed at member meetings have been heeded. 14 Blast and 14 100 fixtures (Men and Women) is too many.
Comment by stephenfh January 23, 2023 @ 12:34 pmIn other news, it’s great to see Portsmouth-born Jack Campbell sign a pro contract with Hampshire. A rare fast bowling product of our academy too.
Comment by Ian White January 23, 2023 @ 12:39 pmIndeed it is
Comment by Dave Allen January 23, 2023 @ 1:03 pmFortunately becoming less rare – Turner and Currie as well. And Singh Dale (Gloucestershire) and Scriven (Leicestershire) recently ‘exported’. Tommo must be doing something right!!
Comment by dmashala January 24, 2023 @ 9:44 am