The Strauss Lite - 12 Championship Games?

 

ECB forced to water down plans to cut County Championship fixture list

Talks are advanced on a new proposal to reduce the Championship from 14 to 12 games – two more than originally suggested

ByNick Hoult


The England and Wales Cricket Board has been forced into a major climbdown over its plans to cut its premier domestic competition to 10 games and now looks likely to accept a compromise.

Talks are advanced on a new proposal to reduce the Championship from 14 to 12 games – two more than the original suggestion made in the high-performance review led by Sir Andrew Strauss.

Three separate divisions of six will also be on the table with two going up and two down between divisions two and three and one up, one down between divisions two and one.

A play-off between the bottom two teams in division one will determine which county is relegated, while a play-off between the top two in division two will decide who goes up to the top flight.

The decision to cut the Blast from 14 to 10 games is also likely to be reviewed, although there is more work to be done on how this will look. One proposal is to go with 12 games in the belief the higher intensity and better scheduling of Blast matches will work to the benefit of the counties in the long run.

One of the red lines for the ECB was a top division of six with just one team relegated to preserve a best versus best scenario and this will stay. But the original proposal from the review was to split the other 12 teams into two conferences of six, with only one promotion place. Counties feared under such a scenario they could be marooned outside the top flight for years.

It is understood that by making it three separate divisions with more fluidity, county chairs are willing to support a reduction in the number of matches.

For the counties reaching the play-offs they would only lose one four-day game a year. For the others it will be two. “These are the compromises we can move towards,” said one county source.

A ballot is still scheduled to take place on October 20 with a majority vote of 12 required for any change to go through.

Some counties will still resist changes under pressure from their members who prefer four-day cricket. There were concerns that reducing the Blast to 10 games would hit revenue but playing 12, for example, would ease some of those fears.

The problem with 12 Championship matches in a division of six teams is that it makes the fixture list unequal. Counties will have to play one opponent three times but that could be turned into a money spinner if it enables more local derbies, which also cut costs on expenses. There is an acceptance that any proposal will not be perfect.

Opposition to the Strauss review was immediate and has stiffened in recent weeks. Last week the ECB believed it had around six or seven counties in favour after a meeting with county chairs, well short of the 12 required. With some Test grounds, who are likely to vote in favour of a reduction, agreeing to a binding vote of their membership, the chances of the ECB proposals going through were minimal.

Now county chairs will hope that by forcing the ECB to compromise on 10 games it will be enough to quell member revolt, especially as there is widespread acceptance that the current schedule is unworkable, and was heavily criticised before the introduction of the Hundred made matters worse.

Last week Sir Geoffrey Boycott joined the chorus of opposition, writing for Telegraph Sport that the proposals would be the “death of county cricket”.