That fictitious scenario may well make cricket tragics shudder in their boots, but it came one step closer to reality yesterday when NZ Cricket announced that it will pursue a proposed NZ20 franchise league as its preferred option for the domestic T20 competition.
In reality, the body which would like to think that it runs cricket in this country had little choice in the matter. All six major cricket associations and the Players' Association have come out in support of such a league, and the players themselves have been emphatic in supporting it.
Player power — or perhaps more accurately sheer financial clout — has not just won the day, it has steamrollered over any opposition.
While it is an ‘‘in-principle decision’’, as commercial deals need to be signed and a competition structure put in place, the direction of travel is certain.
It will not be to everybody’s taste — NZ Cricket lost its chief executive last year and board member Dion Nash resigned late yesterday saying that he could not back the organisation’s future direction — but it is assuredly coming.
New Zealand has long had the Super Smash competition, based on the traditional cricket provinces which have served the game well for more than a century.
A franchise competition need not be incompatible with that — a glance across the Tasman shows that Australia’s Big Bash league exists alongside the Sheffield Shield and other time-honoured domestic competitions, so the Plunket Shield et al may well survive this onslaught.
It may even provide a windfall for second-tier domestic cricketers: senior players who have backed a franchise model have been emphatic that they want to see its projected riches filter down to all New Zealand cricketers, men and women.
That remains to be seen, There are a smorgasbord of T20 leagues around the world and a sizeable band of cricket journeymen and women never fated to attain international honours but who make a healthy living travelling to play in each of them.
New Zealand would no doubt, be another attractive pay day. Franchise owners, keen for a return on their investment and faced with choosing a proven performer in the Bangladesh Premier League or Major League Cricket or taking a punt on an Otago Volt, would need some kind of drafting rules in place to preserve a chance for locals to play in their own back yard.
Just when the new competition might be held is another interesting question.
South Africa and Australia hold their competitions in December and January, and the grandaddy of all such leagues, India’s IPL, runs through March and April.
Northern hemisphere competitions finish in August and September, so a snowy start in New Zealand soon after is not out of the question.
The alternative is squeezing a competition into February, which would result in a clash with New Zealand’s current domestic, let alone international, cricket calendars.
T20 leagues are burgeoning around the world — a new European league is being set up and there are no doubt others being contemplated. The appetite of broadcasters for more and more live games, and of bookmakers for more betting possibilities, has fuelled the rise of short-form cricket.
Quite where this leaves the culture, customs and ritual of the white-clothed, red ball game beloved by the traditionalists is anyone’s guess.
One of cricket’s great strengths is its history. Otago, Northern Districts and Central Districts are part of the fabric of New Zealand sporting culture, and it will take quite some doing for the Auckland Albatrosses, Wellington Weka, and Canterbury Cicadas to earn the hearts of cricket lovers.
But they had better pad up and take guard, for the game as they know it is about to change forever.
