England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke dismissed on Tuesday talk of a city franchise system being introduced for domestic Twenty20 cricket.
Clarke, speaking at the ECB’s annual general meeting at Lord’s, said fan loyalty was an important part of all sport in Britain and would have to be a factor in any attempts to emulate a new domestic league in India.
“Franchise sport has simply never worked in the UK,” he said.
“Tradition and history rather than Bollywood stars and glitz are the binding which persuade supporters to return week in, week out to our grounds — whether it is rugby, football or cricket,” the former Somerset chairman said.
“There has never yet been a successful Team London in any sport and nor is there likely to be any support for a Team Manchester or Team Leeds from traditional areas of rivalry such as Liverpool or Sheffield,” he said.
research
“When ECB launched their own Twenty20 Cup it was on the back of extensive spectator research and financial analysis, Clarke said.
“This is an exercise we will repeat before launching any new competition because we have said this tournament must be robust, spectator friendly and economically sustainable,” Clarke said.
The ECB have been in talks with Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, who already bankrolls an innovative Twenty20 competition in the West Indies, about how the US businessman might fund a new event in England.
Clarke said recent developments in India had been based on the model created by the ECB, which pioneered Twenty20 as a professional cricket format.
“Now the challenge for all of us is to continue investing in the marketing and presentation of the Twenty20 Cup to ensure it remains a brand leader for domestic competitions,” Clarke said.
great cities
“People talked of an Indian event based on city franchises but these were not city franchises as we know them other than in the greatcities of India such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai,” he said.
“This was not the picture of city franchise sport as those looking from afar might assume,” Clarke said. “Indeed all those involved wished there was a hundred years of tradition on which to build these fledgling brands.”
“I thank Sir Allen for his interest in cricket in England and Wales and most of all I thank him for believing that the ECB is the right vehicle through which to expand his patronage in cricket,” he said.
“I hope to give more details in the days and weeks ahead but I can guarantee that everyone in the game — from playground to Test arena — will benefit from this deal,” Clarke said.
ROLLER COASTER: Shortly after winning the men’s 50m backstroke, Justin Ress was disqualified, but after accepting his loss, officials, in a rare move, overturned the call Canadian 15-year-old Summer McIntosh on Saturday won another gold medal and Italy pipped the US to the men’s 4x100m medley relay title on the last night of racing at the FINA World Championships. The US women clinched the country’s record 45th medal of the week by winning their 4x100m medley final. Regan Smith, Lilly King, Torri Huske and Claire Curzan were 0.47 seconds ahead of Australia and 1.23 ahead of Canada. “Yeah, I’m pretty tired,” Huske said after her sixth medal in a busy week. Canadian swimmers finished with 11 medals for their most successful worlds. Veteran Gregorio Paltrinieri also won a thrilling men’s
Tai Tzu-ying yesterday was Taiwan’s final hope at the Petronas Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur, advancing to quarter-finals of the women’s singles with a decisive win over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia. The world No. 2 and second-seeded Tai crushed world No. 51 Kuuba 21-11, 21-9 in their second-round match, which lasted about 30 minutes, at the Super 750 tournament at the Axiata Arena. In the opener, Tai shot ahead 11-8 at the mid-game interval, with Kuuba starved after the break, scoring one point as the Taiwanese hit five consecutive winners to bound to 16-9. Kuuba rallied to gain two more points, but Tai
Novak Djokovic on Monday became the first player to win 80 matches at all four Grand Slams as he made a successful start to his Wimbledon title defense, while teenage star Carlos Alcaraz battled over five sets to make the second round. Six-time champion and top seed Djokovic saw off South Korea’s Kwon Soo-woo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, but the 20-time Grand Slam winner was made to work after falling a break down in the opening two sets against his 81st-ranked opponent. “Now we have got to 80 wins, let’s get to 100,” Djokovic said. Djokovic, 35, is attempting to win a
‘JUST WOW’: Unseeded Harmony Tan was shocked after beating Williams, who struggled from the beginning in her first singles match since Wimbledon last year Serena Williams on Tuesday tasted bitter defeat on her return to singles tennis at Wimbledon, as Rafael Nadal overcame a huge scare to progress to the second round. Elsewhere on day two of the Championships, title contender Matteo Berrettini was forced to pull out with COVID-19, while women’s top seed Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 36 matches. Seven-time champion Williams went down to unseeded Harmony Tan of France 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7) in her first singles encounter since an injury forced her out of her first-round match at Wimbledon last year. Williams, 40, won the last of her Wimbledon singles titles