Do you remember when Twenty20 cricket was great? Admittedly, if you blinked around about 2003 you would have missed it, but it did exist. Honest. It does seem amazing to think that this form of cricket has now been around for pretty much a decade, but surely 10 years isn't enough time for a competition to feel so boring. True, the ECB's attempts to milk the early success for all it was worth didn't help. Nor does it help that Gloucestershire have been mostly useless in this format....although that fact hasn't dampened our enthusiasm for 'proper' cricket.
We are just thinking that if the Jessop Tavern View can't really be arsed with a competition, and remembering that we are men who blog about county cricket, then who the hell can be arsed?
If the rain allows, then Glos are three decent performances away from the quarter finals. Quarter finals that will be played almost 3 weeks after the final round of group games. Quarter finals that will be played on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Before that, the championship will have started again. Oh, and we'll be playing some 40 over nonsense.
After the quarter finals, come the best part of the competition. Finals day. Having the semis and the final on the same day is great. Having it on August 25th, a full month after the quarter finals is not so great. Actually it's crap. Actually, it's worse than crap. It's f***** ridiculous. Somebody please tell us why.
Now in an ideal world we reckon this competition should be played out in as short a period of time as possible thus allowing people to really get into the competition. Something like the recent European football championships would work. Play the group games in 3 weeks. That would be 10 games in 21 days. A game every other day. A 20 over match. That's not that difficult. Then have the quarters, then the finals day. All in the space of a month, or 5 weeks tops.
Anyway, despite their inconsistency, Glos are still in with a shout. And should we get a trip to Cardiff at the end of August then this post will be hastily deleted.
A pair of long-suffering Gloucestershire County Cricket club fans attempt to put the world (and the Glos administration) to rights. Themes include: Is one England ODI a year a good model for financial success and ground redevelopments, whether a batting average of 35 in Division 2 of the County Championship is acceptable and why Glos continue to be rubbish.
I agree that the amount of time between the end of the group stages and the quarters, and again between the quarters and finals day is ridiculous. Not great for the players either as they're expected to switch formats and therefore technique.
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