Is Tom Harrison the Assassin of County Cricket?

As the two divisions has raised standards of players, so they reckon when England don't get beat, Tom Harrison is suggesting scrapping the whole structure and implementing something different with no promotion or relegation (that stimulates interest) - is this another nail in the coffin of the county championship? 

Counties call for championship to split into three conferences.
Elizabeth Ammon.

The Times.

Wednesday, 17 January 2018.

PTG 2320-11724.

The County Championship could be split into three conferences — with promotion and relegation scrapped — under proposals put to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).  Officials from six counties have indicated that they would be in favour of the radical overhaul that would introduce six-team conferences, with ten group matches and play-offs to determine a champion.

Although no formal discussions have taken place, 'The Times' understands that the issue has been raised with Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, and will be discussed again when the ECB meets the county chairmen and chief executives over the next few months.  The three conferences could either be regional or drawn randomly each year as the one-day competition groups used to be. A split into regions may be less popular as it would mean that some of the biggest games, such as Surrey v Yorkshire, would not happen.

There is an increasing feeling that the present system incentivises short-term thinking, such as the recruitment of Kolpak players (PTG 2097-10628, 6 April 2017), and makes counties risk averse when it comes to selection because the pressure to avoid relegation or gain promotion is too great. It has also become increasingly hard for counties in Division Two to retain players who want to further their England prospects by joining a top-flight county.

There is also a belief among most county chiefs that the £UK1.3 million ($A2.25 m) each club will receive when the £UK1.1 billion ($A1.9 bn) broadcasting deal starts in 2020 — to coincide with the new domestic T20 franchise tournament — will help the non-Test match counties. This is because smaller clubs, who do not have large debts to pay off, will have more money to spend on wages. This, in theory, should create a levelling of the playing field in the quality of players that counties can employ.

The proposed championship system of ten group games and play-offs to determine the champions and final placings of all 18 counties could mean playing one round fewer than at present, which would free up four days to increase the number of T20 ‘Blast' matches.  This would be of great interest to some of the smaller counties because currently T20 ‘Blast' matches provide a huge source of income and under the present plans for 2020 onwards, counties are set to lose two home T20 ‘Blast' matches. The competition is scheduled to be played in a block in June and July.

Rob Andrew, the chief executive of Sussex, in an interview with 'Wisden Cricket Monthly', said that he believed that the County Championship needs a revamp,  “The championship is a mess quite frankly”, he said. 

“I have a real issue with promotion and relegation because it promotes all the wrong behaviours. Two divisions is really destructive. You bring in overseas players to not get relegated, or if you’re at the top of the second division trying to get promoted, and so you don’t play your kids. The [2017 season] has been classic proof that it doesn’t work — Essex go up and win the first division while Middlesex win the first division and then get relegated. What’s the point?  We should be about playing nine Englishmen and two non-Englishmen in your match-day squad. And that’s the direction the game will go in”.

Andrew is in favour of an “American-style view of sport that controls costs, is about developing your own players and that you start the season with everyone having a chance of winning”.  

Simon Philip, the chairman of Kent, told 'The Times': “We would welcome anything that increases the competitiveness of the County Championship.  “Now is an opportune time with a new broadcasting deal in place and ahead of the changes taking place in 2020 to discuss whether a change to the county championship would help counties retain the players they have developed, remove the pressure to recruit Kolpak players and produce players for the England Test team.  We would welcome any discussions with the ECB on how to ensure the county championship is right for all 18 counties, produces high quality cricket and future England cricketers”.