What do we think about this Sotonian cricket fans?
I’m very much opposed - think it’ll mean fewer people being able to go. The big mistake in terms of public interest was putting everything on Sky, wasting the potential legacy of the interest generated by the2005 Ashes
From a Hampshire point of view I strongly suspect that we won’t be one of the eight chosen anyway. The ‘city’ stadiums are supposed to be walk-up grounds - and the Rose Bowl is anything but that!
I’d think three in London (Lord’s, Oval, Olympic Stadium) plus Cardiff, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds
I’m not sure at all - I think people have grown up supporting the counties. I don’t think that you can just create new teams and loyalties out of fresh air. But obviously they’re not aiming this at ‘gentlemen of a certain age’ like you and me
I’ve alwasy thought the ECB should stop apologising for the county product - old, stuffy, takes too long, etc etc and start talking it up. The attraction of new people when T20 first started, then the 2005 Ashes was a golden opportunity which was wasted. T20 crowds ares still pretty good though. Looks to me like they’ve seen the sucess of the IPL and the Big Bash and are just trying to impose that on English condiitons. But this isn’t Australia or India and - much as they wish they were - the ECB are not starting with a blank sheet. I don’t care about some half-arsed ‘South’ concept - I’m a Hampshire supporter
Baseball seems to get it right - they make a virtue of their teams histories