United States League could be the death knell for county cricket at home

The T20 Blast has already seen a near perfect all-round performance from Somerset in beating Essex, and a below par batting display in the defeat against Surrey, but there looms I fear, of a major cricket expansion that could affect our white ball game in the future, writes Merv Colenutt.

Concerns surely have to come from the idea that the United States are planning to launch a far bigger white ball league of their own and with money available, the United States league which already has six franchises, are now looking to expand beyond that number and at the same time, they have been awarded List A status by the international cricket council.

It appears to be plainly obvious to me that the United States want to build their own platform very quickly with more games looking to be played year by year in the future.

It looks likely that the major league cricket will expand to an extent in the years ahead that the competition will run alongside the T20 Blast and eventually into the Hundred competition, although in a lot of people’s eyes, that might not be a bad thing.

The money spinning Indian League ended in late May this year, which in the case of all of our county championship sides, meant that half of our four-day games had been completed, so you would imagine at this point, the United States tournament, if it gets off the ground, will also clash with not only the County Championship, but also the start of the T20 Blast.

You have to ask the question, how many players could have their heads turned, not many initially, but money will always remain a draw, so contracts could be an issue, but also it’s more likely the overseas players who come to this country would be more likely to try their luck in the States.

At present, I would say the Hundred has made some progress, but there is still a huge split amongst the fans, whether they would travel to see any of the Somerset players playing at places like Cardiff or the Oval, when will the hierarchy keep the fans happy and bring the Hundred to Taunton, if the tournament is to survive, surely the fans will have a say in the matter on whether they will continue to travel or not.

When it comes to the Hundred, it’s the members who continue to get a raw deal, but if the United States league does make huge strides in attracting cricket to their country and the Pakistan and Indian leagues continue to thrive, county cricket will die a death very quickly and where will that leave Test Match cricket and, dare I say it, Bazball.