English Cricket has proved it can host big tournaments, opines Gareth Batty

English veteran Gareth Batty reckons their country officials have proven their worth when it comes to hosting high-quality tournaments. England recently played hosts to the ICC Women’s World Cup, which the home side won in an enthralling final at The Lord’s against India. This Women’s World Cup is being touted as a revolution in Women’s cricket, considering the amount of attention it has managed to grab.

England Cricket Board deserves a lot of credit in this aspect, the way they marketed the tournament and pulled the spectators to the stadiums. The NatWest T20 Blast too has been a major hit in the region, which has managed to pull out record attendances. In his column for the Evening Standard, Batty heaped praises the way Natwest T20 Blast was organized. England will stage the next edition of the men’s 50-overs World Cup, which commences in February 2019.

“This edition of the NatWest Blast has shown we can host a competitive tournament, with matches played to a high standard — two qualities any sport would want. Before the final round of group games, 15 of the 18 counties still had a chance of making the quarter-finals,” Batty said.

NatWest T20 Blast is very different from IPL or Big Bash

Batty also made an interesting comparison between T20 Blast and other major T20 leagues like the Indian Premier League or the Big Bash League. He feels their country’s tournament is not as lucrative as the IPL and since they don’t have stadiums with massive seating capacities like the Aussie stadiums, they don’t get such humungous attendance.

“The Blast doesn’t have the glitz and glamour of the Indian Premier League, but that is because we don’t have one billion people waiting to embrace it. We don’t have the huge grounds of Australia, so we cannot possibly hope to attract the sort of crowds that turn up for the Big Bash,” He said.

Yet, he reckons they will get a full house at the Kia Oval in the quarterfinals. “But we will get another full house at The Kia Oval for Friday’s quarter-final against Birmingham Bears. We will probably have a higher attendance for this match than some Premier League clubs will for their games over the weekend,” He stated.