Given the glitz of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the enormous sums pumped into the Hundred, it’s easy to forget that the more humble T20 Blast was the format’s original professional tournament.
First played in 2003, it was seen as little more than a gimmick at the time. But it effectively saved English cricket from financial implosion.
Back then, the thought of private investment flooding into the game was as likely as a ramp shot off a 90mph thunderbolt.
Now, though, the Blast occupies a very different world, as anyone at Lord’s last Sunday will have appreciated.
Middlesex and Surrey used to be one of the tournament’s most marketable fixtures, one that would regularly sell-out at the Home of Cricket.
