100-ball format created to fit TV schedules: Swann

New Delhi, May 21

Not agreeing with England Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Colin Graves that the proposed 100-ball format is being mulled as cricket doesn’t appeal to a younger audience, former England spinner Graeme Swann said that it is just a way to fit the TV schedules. 

Same-same

“It will be exactly the same as T20 cricket if they get the world’s best players in it,” Swann said. “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 are 150 kids every week. 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.” 

There has been much talk about the “concept” for England’s new short-form competition planned in 2020 with the players still to get fully on board. Although the reduction from 20 overs (or 120 balls) per innings is minimal, it is thought the change will help to ensure games fit comfortably into a three-hour window, with all the matches expected to finish by 9pm. “It’s because of the TV rights,” Swann said. 

“But then to insult people’s intelligence by claiming that it’s something else, that’s why there’s uproar at the moment,” he added.

Oz vs English players

Swann also spoke on why more Australians are picked over the English players in the IPL auction. “The difference 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. 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 said.

“A lot of coaches are Australian, so they pick, I won’t say their friends, but they pick the players they trust and coach in Australia,” he added. — PTI