Should There Be An FA Cup-Style Tournament In County Cricket?

Our resident Lancashire fan Joe Nuttall poses an interesting question, would an FA Cup-style competition work in the modern County Cricket circuit?

In sport, there’s something magical about a giant-killing.

When an underdog beats a firm favourite, it creates a memorable moment that supporters of the winning team and neutrals alike will remember for a long time. 

Sadly, in cricket, there seem to be fewer and fewer moments like these taking place.

The ICC Cricket World Cup for example certainly provides them now and again; think Ireland’s win over England at the Chinnaswamy in 2011, thanks to a wonderful Kevin O’Brien century, or Kenya upsetting a legendary West Indies team in 1996, the first time a non-test playing side had ever beaten a test-playing nation. These are the occasions that make this game so special.

Beyond moments like those, however, giant killings are few and far between, especially in County Cricket.

Of course, you might get so-called ‘smaller counties’ winning against ‘bigger counties’, but this hardly constitutes an upset. Throughout the history of the English domestic game there’s been varying success for different counties, that’s just the nature of the circuit after all, but could there be a way to create a competition which adds a further degree of jeopardy and excitement to the current landscape?

Well, this is where my article comes into play.

The Proposal 

With the previous information in mind, I would like to propose the idea of the ECB implementing a new 50-over competition into English domestic cricket, in a similar style to football’s FA Cup. As well as the 18 First-Class counties, this would incorporate the 20 National Counties, thus heightening the competition with an extra level of giant-killing potential. 

To further enhance the competition, the ECB could even invite Irish and Scottish domestic sides, or some of the best amateur teams, to play in the tournament and increase the likelihood of a cup upset or a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

Can you imagine a team of local village cricket heroes going on a fairy-tale cup run and facing Surrey at The Oval? It’s the stuff that dreams are made of.

Concerning the structure of the competition, I view it as being similar to the FA Cup. There would be an even number of teams and enough rounds to whittle it down to a final two, leading to a showpiece final. Regular 50-over playing conditions would apply, with a super-over in the event of a tie. 

I think it would also be necessary to broadcast as many of the games as possible.

The bare minimum should be to provide accessible live streams via YouTube, similar to the ones we see in the Metro Bank One Day Cup, but if there is the chance of broadcasting a number of games free-to-air on terrestrial television, this should certainly happen. 

The Pros

I think there are several standout benefits to the idea I have pitched above.

Firstly, it would bring additional attention to the existing domestic 50-over structure, which in recent years has been somewhat cast aside by broadcasters who favour The Hundred. 

My proposed competition could either be the sole 50-over competition in England and Wales or, ideally, run alongside the aforementioned Metro Bank One-Day Cup, a brilliant tournament in its own right.

This runs the risk of providing too much 50-over cricket in an already packed schedule, but in theory, you could only play one game in this proposed tournament should your team get knocked out in the first round, as was the case in the Natwest Trophy back in the 80’s and 90’s.   

Secondly, the experience for the players would be rather unique.

From the perspective of the professionals, they could get the chance to play on difficult pitches at smaller grounds, against sides who are more used to playing on those surfaces; it could be a potential banana skin for them to overcome. 

On the flip side, non-professional sides could get the experience of playing at an iconic First-Class venue, against professional players. On top of that, there’s also the chance of causing a major cup upset and perhaps even some players impressing their First-Class County opposition, which in turn could lead to a professional contract.  

Thirdly, it could prove to be a financial benefit to National Counties sides that compete in the tournament. If, as a National Counties side, or as an amateur team, you got the chance to play away at Edgbaston or Old Trafford, for example, and the match was televised on a free-to-air channel, there would be increased fiscal opportunities as a result of direct broadcast revenue, improved ticket sales and increased attention from sponsors.

As we’ve seen in the FA Cup over the years, this additional revenue can make a huge difference for some teams with regards to securing their financial future and it’s definitely something which could prove to be beneficial in the long-run.

The Cons 

Seeing as I’ve only touched upon the pros of this proposal up to this point, it’s only fair for me to touch on the cons of this idea too.

The first one is something I touched on earlier, and that’s the case for too much cricket being played. This is more so the case for professional cricketers, who already have a jam-packed schedule to contend with given the existence of four major competitions as well as international cricket on top.

It begs the question, is there really a need to play more cricket?

As much as this idea would be fun, it would lead to further fixture congestion and an increase workload for the players, arguably unnecessarily so. 

Branching out from that issue comes a major one which is relevant for amateur sides, and that’s player availability.

The vast majority of players in the National Counties set-up either have a part-time or a full-time job, with cricket not providing a liveable income. Therefore, games cannot be played during the working week, and Saturdays are already taken up due to league matches, thus creating a potential scheduling nightmare.

That leaves Sundays as the only viable day for this proposed competition to take place on, which is probably the only free day that amateur or semi-professional players might get. Factor in the potential travel costs (imagine Cornwall having to travel up for an away game against Durham for example) alongside this and the logistical challenge could ultimately prove to be too difficult to overcome.

Lastly, there is a strong case to argue that 50 overs is the wrong format for the competition, and that T20 would be better suited. You are less likely to attract a big crowd to a 50-over game nowadays, and it obviously takes longer to play.

Instead, you could play a T20 game on a weeknight, or three games in a day on a Sunday, thus attracting a bigger crowd whilst still being able to run the competition from a logistical point of view. 

The Reality 

As good as this idea sounds to me, it’s not one that I see taking off anytime soon.

It could well be a logistical nightmare, and with the ECB’s current perspective of the domestic 50-over structure, it doesn’t seem likely that they would want to create such a competition, especially since it lacks the lucrative financial prospects associated with franchise cricket.

Regardless, to a cricket purist like me, it certainly sounds like a fun idea that doesn’t stray too far away from the tradition associated with the county circuit, a bit like we had with the Gillette Cup and Natwest Trophy of old.

It would definitely be fascinating to see a proper knockout game between Cheshire and Lancashire, my local National County team and the First-Class side that I’ve have supported all my life, at Chester Boughton Hall, that’s for sure.  

Perhaps it’s slightly outside-of-the-box, but my proposed competition is something that I am certain would provide drama and giant-killings aplenty. Who knows, maybe one day we will see something like this take off. 

Article written by Joe Nuttall