Warwickshire or Birmingham?

Later this "summer" Nottinghamshire Outlaws will play Birmingham Bears, not Warwickshire Bears, in the T20 Blast.

Some say the marketing device to encourage more “locals” into the Edgbaston venue is just a gimmick and is a gimmick too far. There are financial reasons for the name change, the City Council funding much of the Edgbaston redevelopments but will the name catch on or be dropped asap?

Glamorgan is the only other county to drop their own name in the pursuit of, if not fame and fortune, then fortune. In 2012 the one-day team were known as the Welsh Dragon but by 2013 they were back to being Glamorgan Dragons. On the back of that rejuvenation of Glamorgan, reaching the YB40 final at Lord's last September (we all know what happened there).

The radical alteration to name is swimming against the current trend at the moment:

• Hampshire, once the Hawks and then the Royals are this year just Hampshire in their 150th anniversary year.

• Somerset dropped being Sabres a number of years ago and were they ever known as the Wyverns. If they were it never caught on, defeating the object of the marketing exercise.

• Surrey are now without a nickname too, no longer Lions or Browncaps.

• Other counties are just too fickle with their tags as well, Worcestershire the original Royals are this year the Rapids and Derbyshire, well they’re tagged Falcons at the moment but have been Phantoms and Scorpions previously, giving the club no clear identity.

• Yorkshire were once the Phoenix but until they changed this year to Vikings they were chasing the sponsorship money being the Yorkshire Carnegie.

If the Birmingham name catches on, time will tell; perhaps it will attract more “locals” but it might also put off more from the Aston Borough side of the city and what about those within the county of Warwickshire but aren't Brummies?

One barometer might be the BBC who have made a Freudian slip and have placed "Warwickshire" in their T20 league table graphic (for now 29/05). The Birmingham Bears currently sit as a nice alliteration but have yet to enter the psyche of English cricket. DDG

Outlaws play the Bears on 16th June at Trent Bridge 

Previously on Nottsview

Warwickshire have defended their decision to re-brand the county as the Birmingham Bears for next season’s Twenty20 competition, itself spruced up and re-named the NatWest Twenty20 Blast.

The club have been criticised for discarding its  county-wide association for the shortest form of the game – now to be played largely on Friday nights and spread over the season rather than concentrated in the middle – with some members claiming they were alienated by the focus on the city.

But Colin Povey, the county’s chief executive, believes the switch – which has the blessing of the England and Wales Cricket Board – is an important step in attracting a wider audience, and stressed the Championship and 50-over sides will remain Warwickshire. Birmingham City Council, which has funded much of the re-development of Edgbaston, was a prime mover in pushing for  the change.

“We don’t want to alienate those fans,” said Povey of any disgruntled members. “We know the Twenty20 format and the time of the games means it is most likely that very local people come to those fixtures. We have to be realistic in this day and age. If your primary funding partner says ‘would you like to think about this, we think it might be a good idea’, we would be stupid and naïve if we ignored that.

“We know that 70-75 per cent of people who attend T20 matches at Edgbaston live in a B postcode. We want to try and give those members of the local Asian communities that enjoy Edgbaston with India  v Pakistan and Champions Trophy fixtures a good enough excuse to come down and associate themselves more closely with their local team.”

The Twenty20, split into north and south groups, will run from mid-May to the end of July and includes Middlesex playing back-to-back games against Essex and Surrey on one day at Lord’s.

The season will also feature a new 50-over competition, the Royal London One-Day Cup, in two divisions followed by the quarter-finals. The County Championship season opens on 6 April.- Independent ………………….

Cricinfo on Sunday, no mention of Birmingham

Warwickshire 175/9 (20/20 ov)

Leicestershire 150/6 (20.0/20 ov)

Warwickshire won by 25 runs

NatWest t20 Blast - North Division

Twenty20 match | 2014 season

Played at Grace Road, Leicester