The name of the game

By Andy Walker on Jul 12, 08 02:30 PM

I may be risking the wrath of cricket's traditionalists with what I am about to say but I like the idea of city franchises for the proposed English Twenty20 rival to the Indian Premier League.

But hold fire!! Before you accuse me of tearing apart one of this fine land's greatest sports by throwing my weight behind these madcap ideas, the actual details of the tournament don't interest me - I'm just looking forward to the crazy ideas for team names.

I have to say, I just loved the way teams like the Chennai Super Kings, the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals rolled off the tongue during the inaugural IPL.

Now just think what imaginative identities the English equivalent could come up with - the Southampton Seadogs, the Mad 4 It Mancs of Manchester or the London Lords.

And how about our own fair city, the Birmingham Bears is just too obvious and too boring.

So how about the Birmingham Bulls and temporarily rename Edgbaston the Bullring in honour of the city's top shopping destination? Just think the confusion would help bring women into the game unknowingly thus doubling the female attendance on the local cricket scene.

Or how about taking inspiration from the second city's favourite culinary discovery with the Birmingham Balti Kings? It would surely add some extra spice to the game.