The proposal for a new Twenty20 league in England has hammered a nail in Test cricket's coffin, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.
Well researched, even well meaning though it may claim to be, the report cannot dispel fears. It offers a stay of execution that it cannot deliver. The intention is that New Twenty20 will complement the smash-hit IPL (and good luck in convincing Lalit Modi, the accomplished and extremely satisfied IPL commissioner, of that).
Forget for a moment the ridiculous business of the world's best cricketers playing for one team in the IPL and then merely weeks later for others, mixing and matching, in the New T20. The IPL would run for 42 days, NT20 for 25 with a salary cap of £1m. If players could earn so much so quickly, why would they want to play international cricket beyond it? And while the players are bred by international cricket at present, that does not have to last. T20 can find its own stars. It already has.
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