, talented team in The Vaudevillains worthy of an occasional tag-team title

The contrast was unmistakable. While Surrey welcomed over 25,500 on a boisterous Friday night of the sort that has become an Oval trademark, a few thousand crammed into Old Deer Park, in Richmond, to see Middlesexs T20.Middlesexs skipper was left feeling distinctly unimpressed. Personally I dont think professional cricketers should play at club grounds, you never know what wicket you will get, Dawid Malan said. Hopefully they get to the stage where we never play Twenty20 at club grounds again.On one level this was simply the frustration of a skipper whose team had been well-beaten. Middlesex chief executive Richard Goatley explains that Malans comments were out of proportion to how he and the club feel about playing at our outgrounds.And yet there was a deeper significance nestled in Malans words. While Middlesex did a sterling job to get 4,000 people through the gates at Richmond, who palpably had a cracking time in spite of their teams defeat, should they not have been altogether more ambitions, for themselves and for domestic T20 cricket?Brendon McCullum is one of very few overseas players with the razzmatazz to attract casual cricket fans to English domestic T20 matches. His signing for Middlesex was hyped up for months. After all the excitement, McCullums T20 debut came not in front of a packed Lords crowd but in front of a couple of thousand at Merchant Taylors School.When Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, speaks of the leagues remarkable global success, he emphasises the need to create the best possible spectacle for TV: this is done not merely by packing teams with talent, but also by ensuring those watching see packed out grounds.Thats why some senior figures in county cricket are privately concerned that playing matches at outgrounds sends an unflattering message about the quality of English domestic T20 to supporters, broadcasters and players alike. For all the charms of Old Deer Park or Merchant Taylors School, it is impossible to imagine the Big Bash or Indian Premier League ever considering playing matches at such bucolic venues.County cricket is in an age when it needs to justify itself by generating as much money as possible: many might not like this reality, but they cannot deny it. A sold-out Middlesex T20 at Lords generates around ￡700,000; a sold-out Middlesex game at an outground garners about one-tenth as much. Over three games, the difference amounts to nearly ￡2 million: money that county cricket is not in a position to be rejecting, and could be used to sign better overseas players and invest in the grassroots game.That a contest as enthralling as Shaun Tait unfurling his slingshot action to Eoin Morgan is played in front of 4,000, with no TV cameras in view, is emblematic of the compromises inherent in English domestic T20.These are particularly acute for Middlesex, given their unusual lodger arrangement with Lords, the restrictions on the number of floodlit matches at Lords to appease the moneyed residents of St Johns Wood, and the heavy demands on the ground, which is currently being prepared for the opening Test against Pakistan.Under current arrangements, Middlesex receive a lump sum from the MCC for all the games they play at Lords. It is reasonable to assume that another couple of T20s with crowds in excess of 20,000 would be likely to increase the fee they receive. The question nobody wants to discuss in detail is quite who that switch from the outgrounds would benefit. The volume of cricket played at Lords means that a level of cricket at outgrounds is necessary and provides a great benefit to the club in terms of reaching a wider audience and getting our supporters closer to the action, says Goatley. The upshot is to drive Middlesex to schedule their home T20s across four different venues.Middlesex forever seek to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Lords, but just occasionally tensions emerge. Lords never really felt like home, former Middlesex captain Neil Dexter said recently. When you dont own your own ground, you cant ever really call it home.The MCC has encouraged the ECB to review the best structure for domestic T20 cricket and is open to hosting more Middlesex T20s, unsurprisingly given the huge financial success they have made of the games. Thursday nights in high summer are the most lucrative matches for Lords, but whether they can host more matches then is dependent on devising a schedule that better balances the grounds hosting of Middlesex with Test matches and other marquee fixtures.Middlesex maintain they are happy with the current situation - they could hardly do otherwise - and see playing three of their seven home T20s away from Lords, as they have done in the past two seasons, as reflecting their commitment to cricket in the whole county. And yet to play so many matches away from Lords seems somehow to settle for second best from English T20 when it is palpable there is a huge market for domestic T20 games in the capital.Surrey abandoned playing T20s away from The Oval five years ago, recognising that demand was simply too great to justify taking games to venues where they could only be seen by one-fifth as many people. Their philosophy is simple: they want the biggest audience possible. It is a striking contrast that Middlesex evidently do not - or cannot - take the same view. And while counties acknowledging their responsibility to spread the game beyond their main home ground is admirable, it would surely be more prudent for counties to focus on developing the best possible product in T20 cricket, and bring four-day and 50-over cricket to outgrounds.If Malans comments were a fit of pique - Richmond had worked admirably to produce a wicket that was good enough for Glamorgan to waltz to their target of 145 with over three overs to spare - they were also a window into something much more. Not merely the parochial concerns of Middlesex, but more fundamental questions for English domestic T20 cricket.In many ways the competition is a startling success - nearly 1m people could well attend games in 2016 - and yet at times it still seems unsure exactly what it is, or wants to be: one of the leading T20 leagues in the world, or merely a jumped-up version of the old 40-over league, existing for the pleasure of existing fans rather than to engage new ones. New Balance Australia Clearance . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. New Balance Australia Sale . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. http://www.cheapnewbalanceaustralia.com/ . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. New Balance Australia . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. New Balance Australia Womens . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Kudos if the past few days of professional wrestling havent made you feel like the victim of one of Cesaros giant swings.Seriously, what a whirlwind. Just three days ago, Finn Balor, WWEs worshipped Demon King, left the Barclays Center as the inaugural Universal champion in his first marquee event. Less than 24 hours later, he was forced to relinquish his belt after suffering a dislocated shoulder, an injury that could keep him sidelined for up to six months.Certainly, it isnt the first time a champ has surrendered his title because of health setbacks (see: Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan), but the timing could not have been worse. Balor, NXTs most decorated titleholder, was to be Raws centerpiece for years to come.An abrupt, disappointing end to an exciting new storyline, yes, but it was far from the end of a series of events that left us feeling as lost as Heath Slaters contract. At SummerSlam, the U.S. Championship match between Roman Reigns and Rusev never officially started, and the brutal Brock-Lesnar-Randy Orton battle never really ended.So it appears the top brass of the WWE need to scurry to find new feuds and new angles, particularly on Raw. There will be a new Universal champion crowned next Monday, but will this open up a path for more logical, fresh and fun bookings once the dominoes fall? Its hard to say at the moment. Just more than a month after the highly anticipated split-brand draft, some storylines have already become stilted. After a confounding conclusion to SummerSlam, a shakeup is in order.That said, there are a few proposed Raw-SmackDown trades that could energize future plots.Baron Corbin (Raw) for Kevin Owens (SmackDown)Case for Corbin: Hes 6-foot-8 with massive heel potential, but Corbin isnt quite ready to be thrust into the heavyweight/Universal matrix. What he needs is a legitimate beef against a sound star, someone other than the diminutive Kalisto, who promises to be as much of a threat to Corbin as Dean Ambroses potted plant, Mitch. Seriously, can you picture Corbin clashing with Roman Reigns? Earlier in the year, Corbin and Dolph Ziggler engaged in a series of encounters, but the feud did little to propel the status of either. That would undoubtedly change with Reigns, the most polarizing figure in the business, in the picture. Down the road, how about Corbin and Braun Strowman mixing it up in a heated all-heel contest?Case for Owens: Unless KO wins the Universal title Monday in Houston, he will once again be balancing on the precarious line between star and upper mid-carder. Make no mistake: Owens, arguably the best bad guy in the business, belongs in the inner sanctum of stars. The problem is he is going to take a backseat to Seth Rollins, Reigns and Balor on Raw. From the outset of his WWE career, Owens has had remarkable chemistry with almost everyone in the ring, starting with John Cena at Elimination Chamber (and subsequent pay-per-views) in 2015 and the continuation of his long-standing feud against Sami Zayn, which culminated with maybe the match of the year at Battleground last month. Owens current teaming with Chris Jericho is fun, and theres some upside to their partnership, but KO is a singles star, a future champ who could re-establish SmackDowns pecking order.Advantage: Push. The immediate returns suggest SmackDown gets the better of the trade with Owens, the more groomed in-ring performer, but Corbin is well on his way to becoming a bona fide behemoth.Cesaro (Raw) for Kane (SmackDown)Case for Cesaro: Since his return from shoulder surgery a day after Wrestlemania, Cesaro has been booked with little semblance of strategy to suggest hell be a perennial top-tier star. True, he was given a new James Bond-style entrance and thrust into a No. 1 contenders Fatal 4-way match the first day he was back, but its been largely downhill and uninspiring for him since. A best-of-seven battle against Sheamus? Eh. A best-of-one would have been more palatable. Cesaro himself -- perhaps staged but with more than a hint of truth -- expressed displeasure after being drafted to Raw. How fun would it be to see Cesaro feud with Bray Wyatt on SmackDown? Cesaro would also be a prime contender to takes Mizs intercontinental title, a championship he almost won at Payback and Extreme Rules earlier this year.Case for Kane: Its hard to say how much in-ring exposure Kane will get at this point in hhis career.dddddddddddd. Any exposure he does garner likely will be relegated to Director of Operations work. But Kane, one of the cornerstones in the Attitude era, remains one of the most amusing personalities in the business. He worked brilliantly with Seth Rollins, and though we are a little hesitant to rehash familiar storylines, this dynamic worked. How about ... Coach Kane?Advantage: SmackDown. Cesaro is younger and a largely unfulfilled talent. A weaker SmackDown roster gives him more opportunity to shine.Sasha Banks (Raw) for Natalya & cash (SmackDown)Case for Banks: With Raw acquiring the effervescent Bayley, the flagship show currently owns the top three women in the business, Charlotte, Banks and Bayley -- a glaring inequity. With Banks out of action for a month to heal an ailing back, Charlotte and Bayley will establish the most compelling womens rivalry in some time. That leaves Banks, whose reign as the womens champ lasted less than a month, disenfranchised. Although SmackDown has a plethora of solid womens performers, none rises to the level of Banks, who could easily contend for the shows impending womens championship. We could see Banks turning heel and setting up multi-PPV showdowns against Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella for SmackDown supremacy in the near future.Case for Natalya: She has the pedigree and name recognition, but the fact remains that Natalya has failed to find a permanent identity. She has come oh-so-close to holding titles on NXT and WWE but has ultimately come up short. As a manager or tag-team partner, Natalya appears destined to be a lifelong sidekick, even when paired with her 59-year-old uncle, Bret Hart, as we saw at Payback earlier this year. Still, theres hope for Natalya to remain viable. Raws womens roster is comparably weaker than SmackDowns once you get past Charlotte and Bayley (and for now, Banks), which would give Natalya more opportunity to shine as a mid-card fixture.Advantage: Not even close. SmackDown wins by a landslide in landing Banks, which is why we offered cash in the transaction.Neville (Raw) for The Vaudevillians (SmackDown)Case for Neville: If defying gravity is his shtick, what better than to move Neville to a brand run by the daredevil himself, Shane-O-Mac? Despite his high-flying theatrics, there has to be concern that Neville will be consigned to a glorified jobber one of these days, given his trajectory on a bloated Raw roster. Wins over Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, riveting as they might be, wont do much to propel Neville out of mid-card purgatory. Lets be real: Hes too good to be part of Raws future cruiserweight division.Case for The Vaudevillains: Similar to Neville, The Vaudevillains debuted in the WWE with a good deal of interest. Their throwback gimmick feels somewhere between spooky and kooky. But after vying for the tag-team titles, which culminated in a championship match earlier this year at Extreme Rules, the duo -- Aiden English and Simon Gotch -- has found it difficult connecting with the crowd. But making the move to Raw would open a path the Vaudevillains currently dont have on SmackDown, which has an overflow of tag teams. If anything, they could take the spot of the newly retired Dudley Boyz.Advantage: Close call, but Raw would acquire a viable, talented team in The Vaudevillains worthy of an occasional tag-team title shot. As awesome as Nevilles Red-Arrow finisher is, its hard to imagine him as a legit top-level star.Heath Slater for a box of Booty OsWeirdly, Slater has had just about as many cheers as anyone on either roster, but theres some irony there, of course. Where will Slater land? That has been the?No. 1 question since draft day. Whether WWE intended or not, Slaters promos on Raw and SmackDown have been outstanding. Who doesnt love a bleeding heart simply trying to feed his stable of kids? Could Slater just live in limbo for the remainder of his career?As for Booty Os, theyre delicious and nutritious. But heres the kicker: They arent cheap. The lowest weve seen for one box is $12.99 -- and theyre not even gluten-free. On Amazon Prime, youd have to shell out upwards of $45. That probably isnt in Slaters budget until he signs that contract.Advantage: Booty Os. Its all about the power of positivity. ' ' '