At that time, we were turning off the TV one evening. While flipping through channels, we saw a match being played in English county cricket.
Two teams were wearing colorful jerseys. However, they were not playing a 50-over or 20-over match. They were playing a different kind of match. Just a 40-over match. Yes, although it seemed funny today, it used to be the IPL for ICC at one time.
The rise of this league began in 1999, but its story is related to one-day cricket. In the 60s, one-day cricket started with the Gillette Cup. These matches were played over 65 overs.
Then, after the arrival of one-day cricket, matches were held over 60 overs. And the one-day league was born.
However, in the late 1990s, to increase the popularity of cricket, ICC decided to play 40-over matches. Thus began the 40-over cricket matches. At the beginning, it was called Pro40.
Although there was still 50-over cricket, it was another tournament called the C&G Trophy. And in 2006, the C&G Trophy was renamed the Friends Provident Trophy. Thus, the main one-day league in England became Pro40. Another name for this league was the Sunday League. The popularity of the league that started in 1999 increased significantly.
It became a profitable tournament for ICC. Each team goes under franchising. Because of this league, even English cricketers benefit. Because cricketers earn a lot of money from many matches. Even teams from the Netherlands and Scotland come since 2010.
So why did this league end? One of the reasons for the closure of this league is Twenty20 cricket. Since 2003, the introduction of Twenty20 cricket did not initially harm Pro40.
However, to make Twenty20 cricket faster, its popularity continued to grow. When ICC introduced the Twenty20 World Cup, its decline began. But the biggest problem was caused by the IPL.
Because the IPL clashed with county cricket, star cricketers also participated in the IPL. However, ICC tried to revive the league. So in 2010, they made a lot of changes to their Pro40 cricket. And Pro40 cricket was renamed ICC 40 cricket.
Teams from Scotland and the Netherlands also joined. But it didn’t profit. Even ICC suffered losses due to the decline in popularity of this league. So in 2013, this league was discontinued. The last season of this league was in 2013. And then ICC had to change their domestic cricket structure.
They even had to close their division one-day league to bring the one-day cup. Through this, that bustling league of 40 overs cricket was lost in cricket. Due to this league, today’s David Malan, Josh Butler, James Vince, and Alex Hales emerged.
Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan played in this league. Mayin Ali’s team Worcestershire scored an average of 38 in 5 matches with a strike rate of 120, including 2 fifties, scoring 187 runs. He took 9 wickets.
