It feels symptomatic of English cricket’s dysfunctional nature that, having started the summer with five different options for a restructured County Championship, the 18 first-class chairs will conclude a tortuous process next week with a sixth on the table. International peace treaties have been negotiated quicker than talks over whether, and how, to cut a handful of playing days from a domestic calendar that, with four different competitions and formats to accommodate, is bursting at the seams.
The tongue-in-cheek words of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s managing director of the professional game, Rob Andrew, when announcing the review in April have proved prophetic. “We have 18 counties that agree it’s not right, but 19 different versions of what the answer is,” he said.
Unlike the previous attempt to remodel the English summer three years ago that was commissioned by the ECB and led by Andrew Strauss, the current review has been undertaken by the counties themselves under the aegis of the Professional Game Committee [PGC], chaired by Warwickshire’s Mark McCafferty. Consequently, the emphasis has been on a widespread consultation that has resulted in seemingly ever-changing plans. The Strauss Review had a clear, single recommendation for the Championship: to be split into three divisions of six with a reduction from 14 to 10 matches in each. This, however, was comprehensively rejected by the counties.
What is the plan?
After a long summer, the most radical proposals have been dismissed, including three conferences of six, a single 18-team league with a Champions-League Swiss model fixture list, a mid-season split similar to that of the Scottish Premier League and several different variants of the current 10/8 divisional makeup. It has left two options on the table. At a meeting at Lord’s next Tuesday the 18 county chairs will be asked to choose between keeping the status quo – 10 teams in Division One and eight in Division Two each playing 14 matches – or adopting a new structure that involves a 12-team County Championship being split into two pools of six, with the remaining six clubs in a second tier beneath this.
A vote will follow the meeting later next week if the PGC judge there is a realistic prospect of it being passed, which is not guaranteed.
With 12 votes required to alter the structure, Surrey, Lancashire, Middlesex, Essex and Somerset have already stated they will oppose any reduction to the current 14-game season, with the voting intentions of Derbyshire, Sussex and Kent in the balance. The 10 other counties – an unlikely alliance of Test match grounds and Division Two sides such as Leicestershire and Northamptonshire – are broadly in favour but need two other clubs to come on side.
“A small number of chairs have worked very hard to deliver the best solution for the game,” one advocate of the new structure told the Guardian. “It would be a real shame if this opportunity is missed.”
How would it work in practice?
The selling point of the final compromise is the fact 14 of the 18 teams would play 13 matches each summer due to a series of September playoffs, on top of a 12-game regular season. The Championship would consist of each team playing 10 games home and away against the five opponents in their pool, plus two additional matches against sides in the other pool determined by seeding. At the end of the season, all the Championship teams would play a 13th game against the corresponding side in the other pool – first v first, second v second etc. While these matches were initially billed as playoffs for the title and wooden spoon, it is now envisaged that they would each be worth the standard 24 points and added to those in the regular season to determine final league positions.
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As a result, it is theoretically possible that the top-of-the-table clash could prove meaningless, if one of the sides has 24 points more than their opponent after 12 matches. Although this feels unsatisfactory to some and would remove the spectacle of a grand final at Lord’s, the proposed new structure would guarantee jeopardy at the wrong end of the top tier, with the bottom sides in each pool relegated.
The winners of the second tier – Championship 2, consisting of 10 home-and-away games plus two additional loop fixtures – would be promoted automatically, with second facing third in a playoff for the right to join them in the top flight.
Key stumbling block
The refuseniks are chiefly acting out the wishes of their vocal but relatively small memberships. Totalling about 70,000, of which Surrey contribute by far the most at just over 20,000, they vociferously oppose any reduction in championship matches. The influence of this lobby group is a huge source of frustration to the Professional Cricketers’ Association, whose members want a cut in cricket on the grounds of player welfare and quality.
In a last-minute attempt to win over floating voters the PGC is understood to have offered to add an extra fixture in the 50-over One Day Cup from next season to appease members and provide additional gate receipts, a proposal which will form part of the Championship vote.
