England one-day cricket captain Eoin Morgan "called for a city based Twenty20 tournament in England as the counties meet to discuss the future of domestic cricket," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. Morgan "backed up the view of the majority of professional cricketers in England by supporting the establishment of a Twenty20 competition" along the lines of the Indian Premier League in India or Australia’s Big Bash. A meeting at Lord’s between county chairmen and CEOs "is likely to rubber stamp only minor changes to the county schedule and reinforce their stance that all 18 teams have to be involved in any Twenty20 competition, a view in sharp contrast to England’s one-day captain." When asked if a Twenty20 competition can work with all 18 counties, Morgan said, "In Twenty20 cricket no they can’t. If you want to get the most out of the talent we have for the benefit of English cricket then it would have to be between 8-10 teams because the scheduling has an impact on the quality of cricket we play." Morgan "is England’s most experienced Twenty20 cricketer" and believes the Natwest Blast "falls short" of other competitions he has played in. Morgan: "The whole frustration at the moment is that guys have a huge amount of talent but do not have enough time to work on it and are not optimizing that talent because they are either tired or do not have enough time. They are not playing at their best due to the schedule" (TELEGRAPH, 9/1).
