TooDrunkToBeBowled
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2014
This is talking totally in thin air and hypothetically, but suppose there were to be a test league, do you think it would work, and would you watch?
It would of course have fewer teams or would be in a knock-out format to keep the overall length of the tournament short. Perhaps 4 teams knock out (or 8 at the most). Have all the major international stars play, or atleast be open to all nations, those boards that want to send their players could do so.
It would have 3 tests (2 semis, and a final), so no more than 20 days required (including a few days rest between the 2nd semi and final). Perhaps tweak the rules just a little bit to improve viewership, but nothing too drastic. Like have a min scoring rate of atleast 3 runs/p.o after X overs, or be docked some runs. No forcing teams to at best play for a draw, like team must declare after reaching 400 or 450 etc. Not that these need to be the exact rules, but some tweaking can be done, here or there to help sustain the interest. I mean no one wants to watch a test match where one side scores 600 runs, it immediately forces the other team to just start playing for a draw and kills the contest. To avoid player burnout there could be running subs allowed like in Basketball.
I think three weeks can be found in the Int'l calender for this to work. It would be a much more serious league than the IPL, and a shorter one, and with potential to provide some gripping contests and at the same time fans will get to watch the best players in the world. Also I feel it could be a big hit commercially as it has all the right ingredients.
Thoughts?
It would of course have fewer teams or would be in a knock-out format to keep the overall length of the tournament short. Perhaps 4 teams knock out (or 8 at the most). Have all the major international stars play, or atleast be open to all nations, those boards that want to send their players could do so.
It would have 3 tests (2 semis, and a final), so no more than 20 days required (including a few days rest between the 2nd semi and final). Perhaps tweak the rules just a little bit to improve viewership, but nothing too drastic. Like have a min scoring rate of atleast 3 runs/p.o after X overs, or be docked some runs. No forcing teams to at best play for a draw, like team must declare after reaching 400 or 450 etc. Not that these need to be the exact rules, but some tweaking can be done, here or there to help sustain the interest. I mean no one wants to watch a test match where one side scores 600 runs, it immediately forces the other team to just start playing for a draw and kills the contest. To avoid player burnout there could be running subs allowed like in Basketball.
I think three weeks can be found in the Int'l calender for this to work. It would be a much more serious league than the IPL, and a shorter one, and with potential to provide some gripping contests and at the same time fans will get to watch the best players in the world. Also I feel it could be a big hit commercially as it has all the right ingredients.
Thoughts?