Was watching the latest episode of Stick to Cricket earlier and despite the best efforts of Phil Tufnell to derail it, there was actually a quite interesting discussion on how to structure English domestic cricket.
- General agreement that the season should start in April with a 50 over tournament lasting to mid May. David Lloyd suggested a knockout tournament with Minor Counties involved, but I would go with 20 teams (invite Scotland and Ireland) in a 4 groups of 5 format with semi-finals and final.
- Further agreement that mid May to mid August should be the County Championship bloc. David Lloyd suggested 3 divisions of 6 with promotion and relegation. Michael Vaughan and Mark Butcher suggested it should be 12 teams, but then backed down pretty sharpish when David Lloyd asked them to name which 6 they would cut. They suggested that the Blast also run in this bloc and Michael Vaughan suggested making Friday nights Blast night, with the County Championship games being played Sunday - Wednesday.
- General agreement that whatever the thoughts are on The Hundred, it's not going anywhere and should be played in one bloc from mid August to September and the final of it should mark the end of the season. Mark Butcher made an interesting point.when he said that the Blast and The Hundred should become aligned and the former should lead into the latter. This is the window where I'd like to see the 50 over knockout with the minor counties as well.
I thought there were some pretty good points made and despite Tufnell clowning around, they came up with a structure that could work and would certainly be better than the current mess.
