100-ball Cricket is Proposed to Fit TV Schedules: Graeme Swann
Updated - 10 Jan 2019, 12:35 AM
Former England cricketer Graeme Swann has expressed that the new 100-ball format is primarily to fit in TV schedules. ECB’s new proposal has been creating a lot of differences in opinion amongst the audience.
Swann is latest to express his views on the new format. He also blatantly bashed Colin Graves’ reason saying that cricket is not appealing for the younger audience.
“It will be exactly the same as T20 cricket if they get the world’s best players in it,” Swann said on ESPNcricinfo’s Talking T20 podcast.
“There’s the thing that Colin Graves is barking on about: ‘It’s because kids don’t like cricket.’ They do, Colin. Turn up at my cricket club where I take my son on a Friday night – there’s 150 kids every week,” Swann asserted.
“[Hundred-ball cricket] is being done very blatantly to fit the TV [schedules], since there is only a small window to get the game on, so they’ve tried to squeeze it in,” Swann remarked.
Although there will not be huge changes from the existing Twenty20 cricket. The 100-ball format would definitely fit within the TV schedules. It could prove to be one of the major factors for the board turning up with the fresh idea.
“It’s because of the TV rights. We need to get participation and need to get it on TV, so they are ready to given them small time slots, like they do for football games. So they want to squeeze it into 100 balls [for these reasons]. But then to insult people’s intelligence by claiming that it’s something else? That’s why there’s uproar at the moment,” Swann asserted
Swann Also Reveals Why Australian Players Go For Huge Money in IPL
The former England offie also revealed an interesting theory about why Australian cricketers go for hefty prices in IPL auction.
Swann believes that Australia being a leading cricketing nation has helped their cause. Also the fact that the Australian cricketers being the coaches help them fetch massive bids, Swann believes.
“The difference between what the English players are worth (at the IPL) compared to the Australians who have gone for massively high prices is that Australian cricket has been the best in the world for a long time, so people automatically think they are better than everyone else,” Swann said.
“They are not necessarily better, but that’s the perception at the minute. With all due respect to the people spending the money, they are not savvy cricket minds,” he further said.
“(A lot of) the coaches are Australian, so they pick, I won’t say their friends, but they pick the players they trust and coach in Australia. But trust me, in the next ten years, you’ll end up with truly multinational teams everywhere, because the best players will end up in the same places,” the former England offie said.
