Even the most ardent lovers of T20 cricket may find it hard to get excited about a six-match bilateral series of the games. Six T20 Internationals between the same two teams with nothing at stake except, well, the immediate financial security of the entire game in one of the countries participating.
We have one trump card to play here. The Ashes will always be the biggest series for England and Australia. The Border/Gavaskar and (I had to Google this one) Pataudi trophy is just not likely to push the Ashes aside. India have tried this already since forming the big 3.
In an ideal world, the India/Pakistan series would be a box office hit, but in the real world it's more likely to start a war.
So it's us. We'd always be a junior partner, but a small part of this pie would give us the financial stability to prop the game up locally. We don't even need to be that creative, we already have the Freedom trophy in honour of Mandela Ghandi (who has his own history in our country). Graeme Smith might be the one who steers this, but getting ABdV onboard could make it a no brainer from the Indian side.
It wouldn't be easy to get this partnership signed, it's not like our administrators have seen eye to eye in the past; but I don't see stadiums full at home or any other better ideas.
1st class has to be just that and 8 teams is plenty to identify talent yet keep the comp as a semblance of quality rubbing Smith’s nose in the dirt is “ payback” at its worst but that has never worried them in the past …the off field just keeps rolling along and each month it’s something new…
We have one trump card to play here. The Ashes will always be the biggest series for England and Australia. The Border/Gavaskar and (I had to Google this one) Pataudi trophy is just not likely to push the Ashes aside. India have tried this already since forming the big 3.
In an ideal world, the India/Pakistan series would be a box office hit, but in the real world it's more likely to start a war.
So it's us. We'd always be a junior partner, but a small part of this pie would give us the financial stability to prop the game up locally. We don't even need to be that creative, we already have the Freedom trophy in honour of Mandela Ghandi (who has his own history in our country). Graeme Smith might be the one who steers this, but getting ABdV onboard could make it a no brainer from the Indian side.
It wouldn't be easy to get this partnership signed, it's not like our administrators have seen eye to eye in the past; but I don't see stadiums full at home or any other better ideas.
1st class has to be just that and 8 teams is plenty to identify talent yet keep the comp as a semblance of quality rubbing Smith’s nose in the dirt is “ payback” at its worst but that has never worried them in the past …the off field just keeps rolling along and each month it’s something new…