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The 18 first-class counties will this week finalise plans to cut the County Championship and Twenty20 Blast to 12 matches in each competition next season in a significant restructure of the domestic game.
The most recent attempt by the England and Wales Cricket Board to cut the fixture list was thwarted three years ago, when a review led by Sir Andrew Strauss for a 10-match Championship season was rejected by the counties, but after three months of talks there is now widespread agreement on reducing the volume of cricket despite complaints from county members.
The counties are already understood to have agreed to cut the T20 Blast from 14 group stage fixtures to 12, allowing finals day to be brought forward to the end of July before the start of the Hundred, with this week’s meetings to focus on a restructure of the County Championship. A consultation process led by the ECB’s Professional Game Committee (PGC) gave the counties five different options for next season, with two to be put forward following meetings of the counties this week before a final decision next month.
The Guardian has been told that both proposed options to be taken forward will involve cutting the Championship fixture list to 12 matches. The most radical proposal involves creating a 12-team Division One, split across two pools of six, with a six-team Division Two underneath.
Each team in the two Division One pools would play 10 games against each other home and away, plus two additional fixtures against sides from the other pool. The winners of both pools after 12 matches would then play off in September for the County Championship title, with the bottom county in each pool being relegated.
The six Division Two teams would also play 12 matches, with some playing each other three times in a lopsided fixture list, and the winners of the league being promoted automatically. The second and third-placed teams would also play off at the end of the season for the right to be promoted.
The alternative option to be put forward would maintain the existing 10-team Division One and eight-team Division Two format, but with a cut to 12 games. There would be no playoff title decider, but the second and third-placed teams in Division Two would face each other for the second promotion places.
Other options proposed by the PGC, including three conferences of six followed by playoffs, a mid-season split similar to that used by the Scottish Premier League and keeping the current 14-game two-division structure, are set to be rejected. Sources involved in the discussions told the Guardian that the 12/6 split is regarded as the favoured format to be adopted, with the final decision to be made next month.
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A two-thirds majority of counties is required if the matter is put to a vote, although if a consensus emerges that may not be necessary. Removing two rounds of Championship fixtures would also enable the One-Day Cup to be split, with five rounds taking place in April and another five in August during the Hundred, giving more players the opportunity to play 50-over cricket.
The County Championship schedule was last cut from 16 to 14 matches before the 2017 season, but with the volume of global franchise cricket having increased significantly since, and the Hundred now taking up the whole of August, there is a growing acceptance that a further reduction is required. The players are strongly in favour of less cricket, with 83% of respondents to a Professional Cricketers’ Association survey published in May citing physical concerns over their current workload, and 67% believing the schedule is detrimental to their mental health.
