manoj_admlab Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 By Adam Cooper May 20, 2008 http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23730064-23212,00.html CRICKET Australia is preparing to stage a franchise-based Twenty20 cricket competition similar to the Indian Premier League (IPL), complete with a host of the world's best players. CA is currently investigating how to best tap into the Twenty20 craze, and is keen to expand on its domestic competition, to run in the 2009-2010 season. The ruling body on Tuesday announced its international schedule for next summer, when New Zealand and South Africa tour and each play a Test series and five-match one-day series against Australia But chief executive James Sutherland confirmed interest in staging an IPL-style competition the following season. "There's lot of challenges but we are absolutely committed to revamping our Twenty20 competition in a positive fashion that will be very, very good for the game,'' he said. Although a domestic competition, the IPL led a major shake-up of the world game through the millions of dollars spent on franchises, television rights and at player auctions, and its attraction to star players. Sutherland said the IPL, which concludes its inaugural tournament in June, also had the potential to take cricket to new frontiers and fans, and that CA was obliged to explore the possibilities of doing the same. "We're under no illusions that our market is a different size and we need to tailor our product to our market, but we still see tremendous benefits being able to flow from Twenty20 cricket that will bring new people to the game,'' he said. "That's what we're about, we want cricket to be Australia's favourite sport, we want it to be the most popular sport in Australia, and if we can bring new people to the game - men, women, boys and girls - then that's what we're about.'' Sutherland said CA was looking closely at instigating a franchise-based system and trying to lure overseas players to Australia, and would assess the IPL's first season for features that could be used in a model here. An Australian competition would continue Twenty20's burgeoning popularity across the globe. The England and Wales Cricket Board, whose players missed out on IPL riches this year, is also considering staging its own Twenty20 competition and has been in talks with Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, who funded a Caribbean competition and is interested in doing the same in Britain. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), meanwhile, is yet to announce when it will hold its next IPL season, but has raised the prospect of staging two tournaments in the same calendar year in the future. After announcing Australia would play two Twenty20 internationals against the Proteas and one against the Black Caps next summer, Sutherland said the "jury's out'' on the shortened version's best fit in the international game. However, at a club level, a franchise competition could provide CA with a decent revenue-raiser given it did not yield any of the IPL's television money despite providing many of the tournament's stars. Finding a television network prepared to bankroll an Australian competition would appear to be the major hurdle, along with generating major interest in a diverse sports market. "We're very aware of what's happened in the IPL and the significant monies that have been raised,'' Sutherland said. "But we're under no illusions as to the contrast in size of the economy and even the huge level of interest in cricket that the BCCI has been able to reap the benefits from.'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sachinism Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 IPL now seems a bad idea, coz everyone is seeing the opportunity to make money and its going to destroy cricket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fineleg Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 dont kill Test cricket please! kill ODIs and World cup-ODI if u want, but preserve Tests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 dont kill Test cricket please! kill ODIs and World cup-ODI if u want, but preserve Tests! don't worry. the classical version of the game will be there for eternity to bore the cr@p out of fans. :--D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakhmi Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Bhajji will be sold on the lowest of all prizes there as against Symonds been sold at a high bid in IPL...watch out! IPL is the best replica of T20 that has emerged in cricket...there won't be any third anywhere in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandan Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 I don't think it'll succeed anywhere else. What I find hard to fathom is how the English journalists keep blaming IPL for having changed the cricket forever. What on earth has IPL to do with England county system or Australian domestic cricket structure? Why has it become the favourite whipping bag for all the foreign cricket journalists? IPL is just the domestic competition of Twenty20 for India as we have Ranji trophy for the FC matches or Deodhar trophy for the one day competition. Why would a domestic championship change the cricket all around the world? The only thing I'm worried about is this: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), meanwhile, is yet to announce when it will hold its next IPL season, but has raised the prospect of staging two tournaments in the same calendar year in the future. This would be overkill and no one will like to watch it from next tim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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