Jos Buttler has backed the ECB’s new 100-ball tournament but concedes that the Indian cricket market “trumps all others put together and then some.”
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Despite being one of the world’s most potent limited overs players, England’s wicketkeeper-batsman acknowledges that the Indian Premier League limelight belongs to India’s internationals, despite scoring five successive half-centuries in the 2018 campaign.
“Participation seems to be the biggest thing about it. Getting kids in, and a family feel to the game. If it delivers on that I don’t think it really matters. People will soon forget it’s 20 balls less if the product on the field is great and the product at the ground is great.
“Fireworks and people dancing, bouncy castles, climbing walls out the back – it has to do all these things and the cricket will be a bi-product on the field.”
Buttler accepts that if the format is to take off, the ECB will need buy-in from England’s foremost players, as well as international stars. “That’s how it’s going to be the best product, and that’s how you’re going to market [it],” he said. “You need your best players.
“It was successful in Australia in the Big Bash without their Test players, but we definitely need to get the best overseas players. It’s set up brilliantly in England for this kind of tournament. Hopefully we can achieve it.”
READ: The Hundred could feature 12-15 players a-side – reports
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