Just a matter of interest, how close are the members to having enough signatures to force a SGM?
Just a matter of interest, how close are the members to having enough signatures to force a SGM?
How do I sign up.
Hello All
Just a quick update, currently I only have 12 members down supporting a SGM, 238 short of the 250 required. But I haven't given up, I'm hopeful there are other people getting names. If anybody else would like to sign, please message me (click on the message link to the left of this post) and if anybody knows other members and feels OK mentioning this to them, that would be great. Have a good weekend.
Surrey are supporting the retention of a 14 match County Championship but will be voting for a reduction in T20 Blast games.
They say of the County Championship: "We have seen crowds double in just five years here at the Kia Oval and huge numbers of younger fans come through the gates and learn to love the format." That's not something that Warwickshire could say.
https://www.kiaoval.com/statement-on-the-domestic-schedule/
GerryShedd wrote:
Surrey are supporting the retention of a 14 match County Championship but will be voting for a reduction in T20 Blast games.
They say of the County Championship: "We have seen crowds double in just five years here at the Kia Oval and huge numbers of younger fans come through the gates and learn to love the format." That's not something that Warwickshire could say.
https://www.kiaoval.com/statement-on-the-domestic-schedule/
What are our attendance stats for the cc games at home this season, do you happen to know? Are they down on the 2021 season or are they more or less the same?
Attendances have not been high - just a few hundred at the Somerset game.
Apologies if this has already been posted, but my Taunton mate sent me this today......
https://somersetcountycc.co.uk/news/club-news/domestic-playing-programme-message-from-our-ceo-and-chair/#
Would help If we promoted the county championship even a little bit..
Devon_Bear wrote:
GerryShedd wrote:
Surrey are supporting the retention of a 14 match County Championship but will be voting for a reduction in T20 Blast games.
They say of the County Championship: "We have seen crowds double in just five years here at the Kia Oval and huge numbers of younger fans come through the gates and learn to love the format." That's not something that Warwickshire could say.
https://www.kiaoval.com/statement-on-the-domestic-schedule/What are our attendance stats for the cc games at home this season, do you happen to know? Are they down on the 2021 season or are they more or less the same?
I did see something on the "Grumbler" substack showing Warwickshire attendances for the county championship as 17,000 in 2019 and 17,000 in 2024. So very low, 600 a day if you assume 28 days play, a bit higher allowing for rained off days etc, but, seemingly, not getting any lower.
Total championship attendance in 2023 was 14,986. Top was Surrey 52,053. Worcestershire 16,378. Northants 6,638.
Only 4 counties had fewer people through the gate than us. I know Stuart Cain is always keen to quote the costs of a championship game at Edgbaston and how much of a loss this makes. But I've never heard any mention of playing a few games at Portland Road or Rugby School. I presume it would save a few ££££££?
2023 was the season we had 3 home games in April wasn't it and it was a grey chilly damp spring that year. Then I seem to recall one of the middle of the season games was played in scorchio 35+ degree temperatures heatwave very uncomfortable. And some games were dead and buried after 2 days they may have limped into day 3 but as a contest it was over we had lots of games like this in 2023 and 2024 that just died a death as a contest - normally our championship attendances would be more middle of the pack 8th or 9th rather than 14th or 15th as they were in 2023. The trouble is there is no normal any longer. The big problem is there is no rhythm to the season any longer. Used to be home one week away the next. The county game misses this regularity through the summer season badly. To accommodate T20 once or twice a week I seriously think they should consider 3 day championship cricket just to keep the season kinda chugging along instead of all the fallow periods
Back in the day they used to publish all county championship attendances in the WCCC Yearbook.
And the biggest attendance each season was always Griff and Coton in Nuneaton!
2022 we played Kent at home sort of early July and it was about 40°c on day 1. Was a Tuesday start, practically nobody was there.
And who can blame them if we had long summers like that year after year our attendances would be even sparser like they are for Sheffield shield games in Australia. Might be something in the idea of climate extremes playing a part in overall declining attendances. This year we've had a long sustained period of warm weather the last we had like this was 2020 COVID year and I think it had cooled by the time June rolled around that year anyway. This spring and summer has been delightful - too many others aren't. First class county cricket isn't in position to take full advantage of this spell of good weather like it was in the 1990's and 2000's when you'd get a lousy summer followed by a couple of half decent ones and maybe a belter like this year then a lousy one again
I've got a theory regarding falling attendance in both C/C and T20.
With regards C/C the much commented view too many games are played in the spring and autumn when the weather very often is quite chilly. In addition as teams do not play each other home and away the league positions are not true reflections of a teams ability.
With regards the T20 is playing all the games in a relatively small window it becomes an expensive time. Like this week with two games in 5 days with a game at Worcester inbetween. The home games £20 each bought in advance and even more paid on the day.
If both formats were played throughout the season much the same way as it was in the 90s C/C would have more games played in pleasant weather and the cost of attending T20 would become more affordable for the non-member (and their family).
The Hundread messes things up by having that in a block in August. Having the Finals day at the end of September is crazy with the final likely being played in really cold, if not wet, weather.
I quite agree
The players have boxed the domestic sport into a corner with their apparent insistence on chunking up the season into distinct blocks because - apparently they can't think straight when they chop and change formats - which I think is all a load of old cobblers.
I also think the stress players put themselves under would ease somewhat if they were able to enjoy a right old mix of matches through late spring summer and early autumn rather than the intense focus on this format in spring and then that format in mid summer. The players would be freed up more mentally and the role of the coaches, backroom staff and captains would become more important which is as it should be. Those are the guys who should be under pressure to deliver rather than the players. I think the chunked schedule of the season these days lets poor coaches off the hook too easily.
This chunking has damaged what was our summer sport irreparably I fear. Were we to have some semblance of a proper season back again it would then take a few seasons to bed in. The chopping and changing obviously hasn't helped either. There are only a couple of counties - Surrey and Somerset - have been able to maintain or grow membership levels and spectator numbers for county matches during the past ten years. The one day cup has shown there is still a bedrock of county support out there who want to watch their side during the school holidays but that should be for first class cricket as well
I think that LE has hit the nail on the head. We could shorten this whole discussion into the five words: "The Hundred messes things up."
The kookaburra ball experiment too is not helpful. I was thinking of going along next Thursday (as its my birthday and taking the day off from work) but I have no desire to see the end of what could be a high scoring draw where the bat has not been consistently troubled by the ball. The weather may be great, but it could be particularly boring.
Lancs are only allowing members to vote from 3 options all of which rescue the county championship. To me that's no choice whatsoever
After an extensive review and engagement process undertaken between the First-Class Counties, the Professional Game Committee and the ECB, we can present the final options to refresh the Men’s Domestic Playing Programme in 2026 that enhances player welfare, minimises injuries and maximises the opportunities to grow attendance.
The Players’ Cricket Association’s (PCA) recent survey showed 83% of players across the game believe that the schedule is detrimental to their physical well-being. A further 72% believe the schedule does not support high performance and 67% worry about mental well-being. If we want to continue watching our best players at their best, and nurture the next generation of Lancashire homegrown players, we must act now to give them the environment they need to thrive.
MEMBERS' FORUM SLIDES
Previous to today (13 July), the Club held two Members’ Forums on the domestic playing programme, which concluded the following:
A recognition that pinch points in the schedule are the major issue, particularly with bunching back-to-back County Championship matches and with late night, long travel and back-to-back Vitality Blast matches.
A recognition that to retain 14 County Championship matches would need two matches played during The Hundred.
A desire to grow audiences for both Vitality Blast and County Championship and recognising that the schedule - particularly with fixture bunching - has meant that we are nowhere near capacity for all matches, excluding the Roses T20 match.
It is worth noting that following the overall engagement process, we understand there to be only five counties that favour retaining the status quo and not taking the opportunity to refresh and invest in our competitions.
As a result, we now are seeking Members’ views on proposals presented by the Professional Game Committee and to vote according to preference with a deadline of midnight on Wednesday 16 July 2025 as follows.
Vitality Blast proposal:
One option that currently has overall support from the Counties to refresh the Blast, which is as follows: Change from current format to:
Three groups of six teams.
Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham always grouped together (another example of three teams that would be grouped are Surrey, Middlesex and Essex) to retain local derbies.
The other three teams in each group rotate yearly.
12 matches per team (six home).
Five home and away games in the group.
Plus, one home and away match against a team from another group.
Matches spaced out into six weekend blocks (Wed-Sun), making it easier for fans to attend and improving player recovery.
The Board, Executive Team and playing staff preference is to vote YES to this proposal.
Please vote YES to support the change or NO to not support the change.
County Championship proposals:
Members are asked to rank three options from 1 (most preferred) to 3 (least preferred). Any vote not ranking all three options won’t be counted. All options reduce pinch points and bunching to help player welfare.
Lancashire Cricket initially lobbied the ECB at meetings to maintain the 14 matches, via having two rounds of the County Championship to be played alongside The Hundred. However, sadly this is not something that is supported by the majority of counties. As such, our primary objective through this process from this point has been to find a more suitable schedule for the players and staff to drive high performance and ultimately create more attractive competition to watch, cementing the County Championship as the best red ball competition in the world.
For further detailed information on the above options, please click here. (slide 7)
The Board, Executive Team and playing staff preference is to vote for OPTION A to the proposal, as this would provide a re-fresh and investment into the County Championship, with a £1 million prize money pot available – the biggest for any red-ball domestic tournament in the world. It would also provide a five-day showpiece final, which works well in both the Sheffield Shield (Australia) and Ranji Trophy (India). We hope you consider this option, but Members should review the proposal and vote however they would want to.
Summary of what Members need to do:
Vote YES or NO on the Vitality Blast proposal.
Rank all three County Championship options from 1–3.
Deadline to vote: Wednesday 16 July 2025 at midnight. Votes submitted by the deadline will be counted in Lancashire’s official submission to the ECB.
We apologise for the short notice communication of this vote, as the Club only received communication from the ECB late last week. We have since worked hard to arrange an urgent Forum – held earlier today at Emirates Old Trafford – as well as providing clear communication and a voting mechanism. The forum today was our third one on the domestic schedule review and the Club has made a conscious effort to communicate with Members on this subject, as we know it’s a topic that is highly debated. Lancashire is one of the few counties that are providing a vote for Members on it.
We understand that some Members will not be happy with any of these options and would like to express this as part of the vote. However, maintaining the status quo is not an option, and it would be insincere for us to include this within a vote when there is no possibility of this proceeding. Feedback from Lancashire’s men’s programme (players, coaches and medical team) comprehensively agree that the current schedule is not appropriate, which was demonstrated earlier this month when playing back-to-back Vitality Blast games and then seeing injuries to Liam Livingstone and Saqib Mahmood – as just one example.
We encourage Members to think which of the three is their preference, demonstrate it through this vote and have their voice heard. The Club acknowledges that the deadline to vote is tight, and we would have preferred to give Members more time, but we are working towards ECB deadlines. All parties agree that for the integrity of this year’s competition, it’s important to establish next year’s schedule as soon as possible.
If Members have any questions during the voting period – including if any Members require any assistance to vote - please contact the Members’ Representative Group on mrg@lancashirecricket.co.uk.
VOTE HERE