Save The County Championship 2 - Warwickshire Communication with its members

 

14/06

Hi Everyone,

 

See below for an example of a club communicating about building projects (when did we last hear anything at all about the pavilion?), consultations and the Franchise agreements (when was the last update from Notts about this?).

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick Evans

24 Enfield St

Beeston

Nottingham

NG9 1DN

Well Nick, we were told the roof would be coming off, carefully, at the last members' forum and that the Franchise partners would be finalising the partnership with ??? very soon, at the same meeting.

Since then, everyone can see the roof has almost all gone now and that building work can start upwards. They need to crack -on!

Hi ,

Apologies, it’s been a while since my last note, but the season is now well underway and as ever, there is lots going on.

2026 Domestic Schedule Review:
Speculation is rife about what might, or might not, be happening from 2026, but the genuine answer is that we haven’t received final proposals yet from the ECB steering group set up to discuss the matter.  We should get these by the weekend and have set up a Member’s Committee meeting to discuss on Monday 16 June. From there, we would like to have a wider Member’s discussion during lunch at the Somerset County Championship game on Monday 23 June. We’ve chosen that date/time as we know that the County Championship is probably the most contentious part of the discussions and Members have fed back before that they prefer to speak during a game. Regardless, I will try to keep you informed as things develop.

A reasonable start to the men's cricket:
It’s still early days, but we’ve had a better start to the County Championship this year with new recruits Ethan Bamber, Tom Latham and Beau Webster really making their mark, supported well by a host of players with bat and ball – it was particularly pleasing to see Chris Woakes and Chris Rushworth in action at Worcestershire. Whilst we were beaten by the weather at New Road, you could argue it got us out of jail against Nottinghamshire so perhaps things do even themselves out over the season. Ian Westwood has settled well, brilliantly supported by Matt Walker. It’s a great combination – Westy dreams about the Bears in his sleep and knows what it takes to win, and Matt has the ‘battle scars’ to support him having been Head Coach at Kent. The new Performance Director, James Thomas, started in early June and has hit the ground running with 2026 recruitment his key short-term focus and conversations are well underway with targets that will improve the squad. On the flipside, it was disappointing to see Isaac Ali move to New Road. We spoke to his representatives and said we would sign him on a Rookie contract at the end of the season if he continued to progress as expected, but Worcestershire offered him the kind of speculative deal rarely seen in county cricket – so, we wish him well.

And the same with the Bears Women:
After some good work from Ali Maiden, Head Coach, pre-season, It’s great to see the women’s professional team take shape, with strong performances in the County Cup and early Vitality Blast games. Whilst the whole team has done well, there have been stand-out games from a range of players including Laura Harris, Nat Wraith, Davina Perrin, Charis Pavely and Sterre Kalis. The One Day Cup was tougher, but it really helped give some of the team’s younger members much needed experience that means they will be able to go in to 2026 much better equipped to compete. As with the men, we’re looking at recruitment but options are more limited in the women’s game as the pool of players is smaller and many of those who moved professional last year signed two year deals, but we do hope to bring some fresh faces in for 2026. It was also good to see Emily Arlott in an England shirt for the first time, and Issy Wong get a well-deserved recall.

Be kind:
One thing we’ve noticed this season is an increase in aggressive behavior towards staff from small pockets of the Membership, whether it be in the Tom Dollery or the Premium Member areas. At this stage, it’s not a big deal, but please just remember that we’re all part of the Bear’s family and should be pulling together. Nobody comes to work trying to upset Members, and I’m really proud of how hard everyone works to try and give you a great day out. If we get it wrong, we have to accept that, but what we shouldn’t have to accept is abuse or derogatory behavior. Hopefully this will sort itself out, but if it doesn’t we will take action that may include exclusion for really poor behaviour.

Re-development update:
Plans are going well for the re-development of the Raglan and Priory stands, we hope to appoint contractors shortly and begin work in September. The plan is that the existing stands are demolished by Christmas, and the new frame structure is built in time for the 2026 season, but that does mean that there won’t be any seating in that area of the ground next year. The plan is still to have the new stand and hotel open in time for the Ashes in 2027. Further details and a flythrough will be added to the website over coming months.

The Hundred and Birmingham Phoenix:
We are getting closer to sorting out the legals and signing the deal – it’s taken a lot longer than anticipated, but I think that’s beneficial as it means all of the investors have had the time to talk things through with the ECB so we all understand how things will work once the deal is done. Knighthead are proving to be excellent partners, adding value where it matters but leaving us to manage the cricket as part of the wider Bears stable. Due to the delays, the ECB will continue to run the competition, as they have done historically, but we plan to invest additional funds in marketing and commercial so that we can build up a head of steam before taking over properly in 2026.

I will leave it there for now, but with the India Test Match approaching, as well as the World Championship of Legends, alongside the stand re-development, 2026 schedule review and completion of the Hundred deal there is plenty to keep us occupied on and off the field.

As ever, get in touch if there is anything specific you would like to discuss and I hope to see some of you at the Member’s Forum during the Somerset game on Monday 23 June.

Take care.

Stuart Cain
Chief Executive
 

Hi Folks,

 

These are the results from the Middlesex members’ survey. Note how much better it is than the feeble (deliberately) effort at a survey Notts have done. Note Derbyshire have done a similar one as they seem to actually be interested in their members’ views.

 

MEMBERS’ SURVEY | TOPLINE FINDINGS AND RESULTS

 

Our thanks go to the 1,100+ members who took time to provide us with their feedback in our latest Members’ survey, which focussed on the ECB’s current review of the domestic playing schedule for 2026 onwards.

 

A more detailed analysis of the survey will be presented and discussed at the forthcoming Members’ Forum and SGM on 26th June 2025, however, please see below a summarised top-line view on the feedback provided by members.

 

The survey focussed on five main areas, as follows:

 

1. Which, of the three main cricketing formats, do our members prefer?

 

(Members were asked to specify how much they value each format of the game by providing a score between 0 and 10, with 0 being least valued and 10 being most valued)

 

County Championship

 

Vote of 0-5 - 1%

 

Vote of 6 to 8 - 7%

 

Vote of 9 to 10 - 92%

 

T20 Blast

 

Vote of 0-5 - 38%

 

Vote of 6 to 8 - 43%

 

Vote of 9 to 10 - 19%

 

One-Day Cup

 

Vote of 0-5 - 19%

 

Vote of 6 to 8 - 51%

 

Vote of 9 to 10 - 31%

 

Question Two – is the current volume of Cricket (78 days out of the 178 days in the season) too much/little/about right?

 

Far too little cricket being played - 7%

 

Too Little cricket being played - 25%

 

Volume of cricket is about right - 55%

 

Too much cricket being played - 13%

 

Question Three – within the existing 78 playing days – how should that – ideally – be split by format?

 

Nearly all Members want either the same number of Championship games (45%) or 1-2 more games (44%). Almost all the remainder (7%) want even more Championship games than that. To find the extra match days Members were much more likely to sacrifice T20 games than One Day Cup.

 

We also asked respondents to do the same exercise on two hypothetically reduced formats – first with 74 days and then just 70 days cricket across the whole season. In both scenarios, the overwhelming desire for red ball cricket remained, whatever happened.

 

Question Four – what format do Members believe should be played alongside the Hundred?

 

66% of Middlesex Members would favour playing Championship cricket in August compared to 54% favouring the current arrangement of One Day Cup.

 

At 32% the lowest number favoured T20 alongside the Hundred.

 

Looking at the other end of the scale – just a quarter of Members would be against playing red ball at the same time vs 19% against the current arrangement.

 

Question Five – how would changes in the number of Games played by format impact membership renewal?

 

To answer this question, we asked Members how likely they were to renew on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 being “would certainly not renew” and 10 being “would certainly renew”).

 

If schedule remained the same: Average score of 7.5

 

If schedule included more Championship cricket: Average score of 7.7

 

If schedule included less Championship cricket: Average score of 4

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick Evans

24 Enfield St

Beeston

Nottingham

NG9 1DN