April 26, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1429

LONDON, April 25: If England is to create a workable Twenty20 contest to outdo the Indian Premier League (IPL) then the 18 counties will have to combine into six regional teams, head of the players’ association has said.

Sean Morris, the new chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, thinks that without adjustment, English cricket faces being second class to India forever.

“This is a great opportunity for English cricket, an unbelievable chance for England to reassert itself,” Morris told The Guardian.

“I just hope we take it. India, a big competitor, has got first to the market. Considering that we invented Twenty20, they should not have got there first. It is important that we act quickly.”

Morris’s suggestion is expected to be discussed at an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) meeting on May 26.

However, plans are already in progress after talks with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire whose backing has given English cricket new confidence as it seeks to rise to the IPL threat.

On Thursday, Stanford expressed that he believed England was not only better placed to take the lead in Twenty20 cricket, but that cricket could ultimately surpass football as the world’s most popular sport.

If the regional plan comes to fulfilment, there could be some tempting mergers.

Lancashire and Yorkshire could be thrown in together with Durham as a Northern region, with Surrey, Middlesex and Essex all uniting under the London banner.

Such a proposal may be anathema to the die-hard fans of the counties involved, but Morris cited the example of South African rugby, where traditional Currie Cup rivals have combined to form potent Super 14 franchises.

“This is the biggest opportunity we will ever get to restructure,” urged Morris.

His argument is that, without reducing the number of competing squads, the talent on display would be spread too thinly, and the hope of attracting the big names would lessen.

“When you look at the broadcasting deal that will drive it and for sponsorship partners and for fans, do playing 18 teams really stack up? We need to have a product that is exportable back to India, because that is where the money is.”

Stanford is keen to invest heavily in the scheme, but has effectively set the ECB a deadline of 2010 to get the competition functioning.—Agencies