What cricket will look like in 50 years

After the thrills and spills and last-gasp excitements of England’s triple-headed series in India, the attention of the cricket fan moves on. But to where? To Derbyshire’s next game, say — a university match at the county ground, over what promises to be a somewhat nippy Easter weekend. Or perhaps to the Indian Premier League, where the Mumbai Indians, featuring Rohit Sharma and the Pandya brothers, from the recent Test series, kick off the latest edition of the tournament against Bangalore, perpetually under-achieving despite the presence of A.B. de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar and Adam Zampa. Some of the best players in world cricket will be in India, for the colour, the crowds, the music and of course the money. Huge amounts of it, that have transformed cricketers, and cricket — just look at the fielding (mostly), let alone the showers of sixes.

So maybe time to peer into cricket’s future: it’s 50-60 years from now, and welcome to the 24-team global T20 league, made up of three sub-leagues, the IPL, the new eight-team English Cricket League, and the Big Bash League in Australia. All the franchises play each other in India, Australia and England. These are the three countries that effectively run and finance cricket. New Zealand might be the top-ranked Test country, but they don’t have the resources. The Basin Reserve is a lovely ground, but it feels a bit like The Parks in Oxford.

The tournament will be called Major League Cricket and the other leagues (Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies) will be minor leagues. It’s the first truly global sports league: cities supersede countries, stadiums must have a minimum 25,000 capacity and are packed. Matches last three and a half hours at most, perfect for television.