2020. Just the 17 years after the ECB unleashed their Twenty20 revolution on the world. Just the 12 years since the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. And just the 9 years since Cricket Australia rolled out their Big Bash League.

Still, 2020 – the marketing will take care of itself, right?

Apparently not. That would be too simple. Unlike cricket, which – even in its most stripped back format – has been deemed to be too complicated and too long by the ECB, showing in the process an alarming lack of faith in both their “product” and the intelligence of the population.

Nobody is denying that Something Had To Be Done, but the idea that, essentially, cricket – the game itself – is to blame for its marginal existence in this country is farcical and offensive. Especially when this idea is coming from the very organisation that has managed the decline and marginalisation of what could and should be our national summer sport. It’s akin to Tesco riding into town as the saviour of the high street.

Sure, cricket needs to attract a new generation, but do we really entrust this grave responsibility to Colin Graves and the ECB? How has 13 years behind a paywall helped? How, really, will a token ten games of the new tournament on the BBC help? How will further marginalising the County Championship help? How has milking and taking for granted the existing fans helped? How is alienating them going to help? How has encouraging the stag-do culture of heavy drinking at cricket helped? Couldn’t the ECB have lobbied for more – any? – cricket in state schools? This is no slight on Chance To Shine, but isn’t there something symbolic in the task of getting kids to play cricket being left to a charity? Why wait until now to try and engage the south Asian demographic in this country? Why let the Caribbean community drift away from the game? How will scrapping the Kia Super League help capitalise on the staggering success of the 2017 Women’s World Cup?

Cricket, to my mind (a mind that has been obsessed with the game for over thirty years, man and boy), is as good if not better than it has ever been. The last week alone has served up some tremendous drama: Sri Lanka’s miracle Test win in South Africa; Melbourne Stars’ choke-to-end-all-chokes in the BBL final; and England’s record ODI chase in Barbados. 

So forgive me for being sceptical. Forgive me for questioning the motives for introducing a fourth format into an already overcrowded schedule. Forgive me for questioning whether the new format, details of which were confirmed today, is in any way simpler and more accessible than T20. Forgive me for doubting whether the ECB can capitalise on the upcoming summer which could end up with England winning a World Cup and Ashes on home soil. Don’t forget, the last great opportunity – the 2005 Ashes – wasn’t exactly grasped when cricket’s soul was sold to Sky.

And that money is now being siphoned off to marketing wonks, so I seek no forgiveness when quoting Alan Partridge: “They’ve rebadged it, you fool.”

In a more sane world, 2020 would see the belated start of the English T20 Premier League. It would comprise of the top 8 County T20 sides. One champion. Two relegated. No strategic time-outs, no drinks breaks, strict enforcement of over rates. And it would be marketed. And on free-to air.

But even in a sane world, it might still rain.