Why England is far from being a T20 superpower?
English Cricket, the home to the game, has failed to sow its seeds on the fastest-growing, fast-lane cricketing format, despite winning the 2010 T20 World Cup in the Carribean. English Cricket has not only dwindled in the longer-overs format but has failed dismally when it came to their acceptance and subsequent performances in the twenty-overs game.
Barring a few true T20 specialists in, most notably, Kevin Pietersen, Craig Kieswetter, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan, nobody else has really come close to be even picked up in that first-draft reference.
England's perceived lack of interest in the shortest format
Whether it is the lack of acceptance and admiration that the grey population in the British Isles have for this format, or their lack of interest in fast-lane cricket and their rooted belief that ‘Test match is the best match’, whatever it is, there can hardly be any denial that lack of grass-root initiatives to promote the game has been a big consequential factor.
England supporters’ viewpoint that Test cricket, regardless of its drudgery and gloomy viewership, is the best format for every cricket player to establish themselves has made the limited-overs game less popular in the country.
Consequently, the domestic T20 competitions, most notably the Natwest T20 Blast ,focusses mainly on their home players, with only a handful of foreign players drawn into the draft. The competitions, thereby lack the viewership quanity, which would have been there if quality foreign players were enrolled.
What that does barring lesser viewership is that it hardly provides the home players a first-hand exposure of playing with top international stars.and secondly, hardly attracts top brands from sponsoring the teams, which play a pivotal role in the promotion of that sport (in this case – the format) within that region.
As Kevin Pietersen, the contoversial England star, has rightly mentioned in a recent documentary that franchise cricket with top international stars is exactly what the English landscape is missing, the provisions of which would not only produce more T20 specialists but also promote the game among the audience and cricket-developing counties.
This is a very strong statement, especially because lower-ranked teams, most noticeably the West indies have promoted the game only by organising franchise T20 cricket, and now they perform even better than most other quality sides in this format.
Though there might be some question marks over its subsequent impact in deteriorating the liking for Test cricket, but looking at top Test teams like India, South Africa and Australia – the IPL, the Ram Slam T20 and the Big Bash League are hardly affecting their Test quality, while enabling the growth of many promising, home-grown T20 players, who even get the chance of playing Test cricket, later on.
Simply disregarding the format on the account of its nefarious impact upon the quality of Test cricket, noting the example of the gloomy Test cricket environment in the Carribean will not be the way to look ahead if England are serious about making themselves a quality T20 outfit.
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Plus, the English Cricket Board’s lack of interest in sending its home players to T20’s biggest domestic mega-event in India for the IPL is a constant factor thwarting their exposure at the top level.
Promising players like Alex Hales and Jos Buttler (even Ben Stokes falls in that category) deserve a chance to be playing regularly in this format and if their opportunities come only at a few T20 international two-game series, then it would hardly be beneficial to them.
What is even graver for these blossoming English players is that their Board has lensed their focus so attentively upon buiding Test match skills and calibre to withstand any opposition that whenever this younger cadre of growing T20 specialists fail to deliver in the longer formats, either because it does not suit them or perhaps due to the challenging conditions, they get immediately benched and and are often, in the process, opted out of the T20 internationals scheduled for that very series.
ECB learning from mistakes?
Though the English Board seems to have somewhat learned form their previous mistakes yet there is a long way to go before the team of T20-playing potential players get more regularity in terms of their selection and match-practice.
Nevertheless they seem to understand the relevance of this format and has lately started arranging a T20 specialist side, with many new and bright names in the selection fore.
Players like the Hampshire opener, James Vince, who was out of the selection panel’s radar for the last three or more years, despite boasting of a 31-plus average in domestic T20s, has finally got a chance to prove his merits in the 3-0 thrashing of Pakistan in UAE.
Chris Woakes ,a potential T20 all-rounder has finally managed to make himself a team regular despite his invaluable scores in the international matches, he has played thus far. Finally they have gotten rid of palyers like Ravi Bopara, Joe Root and Moeen Ali, whose experience in the longer formats gave them consistent chances to play this format.
With a bubbling new team, full of enthusiasm, Eoin Morgan now has a lot of future T20 stars in his camp, who can definitely play franchise cricket both at home and abroad.