IPL: How Would England Benefit?

With the recent events of the terror attacks in Lahore,Pakistan, the Indian Premier League has been thrown into doubt. The Indian Government cannot guarantee the levels of security required to stage such a big tournament with their national elections running at the same time. This has forced the Board of Control's hand into moving the tournament.

England and South Africa have emerged as the two front-runners to host the tournament, so this writer looks at how moving the IPL will effect English counties.

Three counties (Hampshire, Durham and Glamorgan) have already put their names forward as possible hosts of such a switch of venue. Also Lancashire will be favourable toward staging IPL games due to Old Trafford not being awarded an Ashes Test this year.

The three counties that have voiced their wishes of hosting games have all built relatively recent stadia, with Durham being the oldest of the three planning a large expansion. Hosting these games could well bring in valuable revenue to these counties trying to establish themselves as Test playing venues.

If the cricket board can persuade the BCCI to bring the IPL to England then not only will the venues chosen to host games benefit, but thousands of fans in England, who otherwise wouldn't get a chance to see such stars as Tendulkar, Dhoni and Harbajan will also.

The problems for the Counties in hosting such a difficult tournament would be overuse of pitches. The County Championship still must take precedent over any other tournament. Therefore the games will have to be scheduled tightly and with rain being a problem in early season cricket in England many games may be lost, which is not a good prospect for the BCCI.

If the IPL were to come to England the financial gains for the counties would be much needed and greatly accepted. But for those who do not receive IPL games then they may not be so favourable toward the disruption of the English season.