Why an IPL system won't work elsewhere

Hulking former Australian all-rounder turned coach Tom Moody has been around far longer than most current administrators.

Long enough to tell you what it felt like when Australia won the World Cup at The Eden in what was then Calcutta in 1987. Long enough as well to have stood on the balcony at Lord's twelve years later to be involved in a repeat performance as Steve Waugh's Aussies beat Pakistan in that predictably one-sided final.

Playing for, and later coaching, Worcestershire before assuming a similar role with Sri Lanka and now head coach of the Indian Premier League's Punjab Kings XI, which have as joint owner Bollywood glamour lady Priety Zinta, he is better clued than most to the dangers grievous to the modern game.

In this he accurately points to the dangers of other Test countries, in their mad scramble to copy the Indian Premier League and their ownership of franchises.

Simply put, it comes down to a matter of economics. Indulge only if you have the moolah.

While the IPL with its hoopla hype and media attention is dressed up as a financial package that is underwritten by millionaires, there is also the matter of the economy that supports such a vast population as India. This is where private ownership of teams can work in this vast country, which in many ways underwrites the system.

Which means also what works in India is not going to work in other countries where there are franchises but based along more traditional lines. Apart from England, no other county has the population to support such a structure.

Even in England, where the panjandrums of the England (and Wales) Cricket Board are now mulling how to reorganise their county programme, which has by modern day needs become outdated, the counties will reject moves towards a private franchise format.

In most cases, the revenues that the IPL and the lesser Indian Cricket League generate are well in excess of those other countries can hope to create for their T20 programme. Not unless there are willing mogul types prepared to spend big for the honour of being a franchise owner.

At some stage the two Indian leagues need to reach an accommodation and allegorically bury the hatchet, but not metaphorically in the back of each governing organiser.

Rumour has it already, although naturally denied, how former Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu is attempting to raise a team from the island to compete as a franchise in the ICL.

While a new development it shows an inherent weakness in the domestic Sri Lanka T20 series which has little money, and poorly supported by media and spectators.

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