Thorpe blog: Stanford is "car-crash TV"

Eurosport - Sat, 11 Oct 21:48:00 2008

In his latest blog for Eurosport-Yahoo!, former England Test batsman Graham Thorpe describes the multi-million dollar Stanford Twenty20 match as nothing more than "car-crash TV".

CRICKET England Graham Thorpe - 0

The good thing about the Stanford Twenty20 match is that it has raised the profile of cricket and kept it in the news, competing against other sports

Twenty20 cricket is bringing in the money and has more than doubled the revenue in cricket, promoting the game can only be a good thing.

For the players it's like waiting for the lottery numbers. I don't have a problem with the guys at the top end of the game earning vast sums of money.

They are putting their head on the block and know what they are buying into. It will be tough on the players from a psychological perspective. It is a huge impact game and of course the money matters.

They may sit around the table and say that if someone drops a catch it won't matter but it will and they must mentally adjust themselves.

It is the money that is the attention grabbing thing about this game, which wouldn't be there if the stakes were lower, so it's good that Kevin Pietersen and the England team are discussing giving some of their prize money to charity.

They will be asked to do a lot from a sponsors' perspective and there is the danger that they go along and do that and come away from the game without anything.

As far as the game itself, it offers no real interest. It's not completely irrelevant but not far off. Obviously the focus for everyone is the tours of India and West Indies ahead of next year's Ashes.

It's like a Formula One race, you watch it in case there is a crash. If England need two runs off the final ball it will make great television. It's car-crash TV.

Twenty20 cricket is the biggest thing to hit the game since the Packer revolution and it will be a good thing if the administrators manage it well.

There will be increasing fixture congestion with different boards around the world competing for space with their own competitions.

There is a danger of overcooking something that could be financially very good.

If it is managed well then the game will benefit as the extra money can be filtered through to the grass roots.

But if the people in charge of the game want the longer version to survive they must increase the money in that area to counteract the onslaught of Twenty20 cricket.

Eurosport

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  1. Poor Graham... he obviosuly wishes he was around to­ make some money

    From Jimmy The Kid, on Wed 22 Oct 12:59PM

  2. I think that Graham makes the most important point -­ the Stanford T20 keeps the game in the public eye - and­ will do so even during the indefensibly long football­ season! The problem is, the media - and I mean the­ popular media - arent really interested in Test or­ County Cricket. They even find it difficult to get­ interested in 100 or 80 over games unless there is some­ 'sexy' titbit like bad language etc. Having­ said that it is, of course, insignificent in the grand­ scheme of cricket. What is more important, and­ desperately so, is that the administrators dont allow­ themselves to be dragged into a T20 road race. Test­ cricket is the most important form of the game and,­ whether they like it or not, many players will gain­ their credibility (and their financial rewards) from­ their Test Match performances.

    From michael.porter8, on Sat 11 Oct 2:50PM

  3. do the organisers seriously think that there will be an­ audience for these matches. England are hardly a force­ in 20-20 cricket and the less said about the Windies­ the better. I am sure TV audiences will get bored and­ commercial endorsements will invetably drop off

    From DHANANJAY, on Fri 10 Oct 11:49PM

  4. The whole thing stinks!
    40-over ODI's have their­ place, that's fair enough, but T20 is little more­ than a slogfest. Long live the true form of­ International Cricket - Test Match cricket, a true test­ of skill and character.

    From cameron w, on Fri 10 Oct 5:02PM

  5. The money should be distributed to the entire English­ county players rather than just to the 11 players...I­ feel the latter is being greedy....and indeed the­ Eleven selected are there only because of the other­ county players..

    From gopal, on Fri 10 Oct 4:25PM

  6. The trouble with all of Stanford's cricket events­ is that they have absolutely no significance whatsoever­ besides the moolah. That's why he has to put up all­ that cash, because nobody would give a monkey's­ otherwise. The only reason that the ECB have agreed to­ play these games is to compensate England players for­ the fact that Test Match duties prevent them from­ playing in the IPL. That is also why Dimi Mascarenhas­ isn't playing. He plays in the IPL and the­ "Champions League" so he doesn't need to­ be compensated.

    From Bobito, on Fri 10 Oct 4:09PM
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