Pietersen has come out in support of a Big Bash League-style franchise-based competition.
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Kevin Pietersen says English cricket must learn from Australia’s Big Bash League or risk falling by the wayside.
Pietersen, who featured for the Melbourne Stars this season, believes a franchised-based revamped Twenty20 competition is needed to boost the game both on and off the field.
In a fascinating column in The Telegraph, Pietersen wrote that the current English T20 structure was not working and that a short Big Bash-style competition was the solution.
“The present Twenty20 structure of playing once a week on a Friday over a three-month period is just not working,” he wrote.
“It puts off the best overseas players from joining our league, as it is too spread out. It is hard for Twenty20 specialists to stay in form.
“Playing the majority of fixtures on Friday nights perhaps does not encourage children and families quite as much as guys on a night out.
“So what is my solution? A short tournament of a maximum of 10 teams played in the school holidays.
“A smaller, condensed tournament will improve the competitive element, keeping more teams interested for longer and driving up the standard.
“England has so many advantages on its side. It is on a great time zone, there is no other major cricket being played in the world in July, overseas players love coming to our country and the long summer evenings are perfect for Twenty20.”
Former England opener Michael Carberry has come out in support of Pietersen’s views, telling ESPNCricinfo that a franchise-based system is to way to go.
“Australia have just got it right,” Carberry said.
“The franchise system is something that the players back home have been crying out for for years. It works. You get the best of the best playing against each other in a short competition and with that you attract the best from overseas as well.
Pietersen was superb with the bat for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash this season, ending the competition as the league’s second-highest runs-scorer behind Perth’s Michael Klinger.
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