I think that's a good point. I could live with 13 games, or maybe even 10, but I think there has to be some quid pro quo which is that the games taken out of the schedule are in early April / late September. You would have thought the players would have been equally keen on breaking up the long run of 4 day games through April and May which must be a strain for them (especially unusually tall fast bowlers who are getting on in age) but they don't raise.

I think the point is it simply has to remain at 14 BARE MINIMUM or else you end up with situations like in 2020 COVID season April and May were blooming lovely and the rest of the year wasn't so much. You can often get dry ISH springs followed by wet summer's. So we'd have missed out of some nice cricket weather early doors only to have to trudge through the rain to games in June and July

Temperature and warmth of summer is crucial for course but IMHO in rainy temperate climates like England you have to have 3 proper games of cricket per month right through what constitutes our summer.

Sure if they lopped off the first April game and the very last September game that'd suit many. But that would've ended up this year finishing last week in the rain and look how nice this week has been!!!

So no, 13 was a complete joke and 10 in the UK is taking the **ing piss.

What they need to do is unblock the schedule

Play a proper mix of proper cricket and limited inferior versions of it right though the summer

PCA not ruling out strike action after county vote

Professional Cricketers' Association chief executive Daryl Mitchell has not ruled out the possibility of players taking strike action after proposals to reform the County Championship were rejected.

Full story here: https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/articles/c4g961134g2o

GerryShedd wrote:

Andy wrote:

OHD so broken by it all he can't even bring himself to play today!

I don't want to pile in on OHD too strongly because I know he has to represent the views of his members. But his own season's workload has hardly been burdensome. He has played ten four day games plus six one dayers and one t20 (max 47 days). He has bowled 334 overs in the season. Taking a year from the past at random - say, 1951 when Warwickshire won the Championship - Derek Shackleton of Hampshire, a bowler of fairly similar pace to OH-D, played 31 three day matches (max 93 days) and bowled 1171 overs.
Quite a difference!

Thing is OHD has played for Harborne CC about 6 times this season on Saturdays, but yet he's out here saying he and his members are playing too much county cricket and they need more rest and recovery time? He's give himself 6 extra days of cricket this year. Lovely lad but he might not be the brightest...

Mikkyk wrote:

PCA not ruling out strike action after county vote

Professional Cricketers' Association chief executive Daryl Mitchell has not ruled out the possibility of players taking strike action after proposals to reform the County Championship were rejected.

Full story here: https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/articles/c4g961134g2o

They won't strike
A good chunk of their membership doesn't even want fewer games let alone the silly 13 games idea
That includes all 31 Surrey players, the Derbyshire playing staff. Plus there's bound to be a fair few other counties playing staff's and players at counties that voted for a cut. Just let those that want to play play

Mitchell has failed in his scheme I'd say his days in that role are numbered

As for who voted for what, it isn't totally clear but The Cricketer says: "We know that Surrey wanted 14 games, ideally with an eight-team top flight; we know that Somerset, Derbyshire, Middlesex and Yorkshire, too, wanted 14 games, but not necessarily in the same way"

Glamorgan apparently were the county that switched last minute to a no vote. I think the ECB team that put the barmy 13 games idea together probably assumed Notts would go along with them but I presume they didn't. Lancs did of course as did our lot. They probably offered the extra couple of ODC games as a tempter to counties like Somerset and Essex but obvs they didn't bite either

It is suggested Glammy are playing the long game and have a board who would have waved through 12 or even 10 games and they reckon that prospect may crop up in another year or two. The schedule needs organising better without the cuts - Somerset should be demanding now that more July and August days of cricket are scheduled

104-8 Warks on strike already

Most counties appear to have bigger squads so using these bigger squads to give players a rest if indeed they think they are playing too much, must be the way forward. Nottinghamshire have done this during the season with their bowlers and it has obviously paid off, not many huge wicket takers but players getting a game off and being able to recharge their batteries and someone else comes in and they are fresh and eager to produce a performance. They have a few bowlers who have 25-35 wickets and no reason why next season, we shouldn't be able to do the same with the recruits we have made lately. I still don't see how batsmen with fewer inning to bat and bowlers with fewer overs to bowl, can be tired. There is a block of games where bowlers have to bowl 24 balls and therefore only leaving themselves 96 balls to field and batmen only really batting for no more than 50 balls during most innings. And when the One Day Cup is on, although the games are pretty close together, bowling 60 balls is not as taxing as playing longer formats. How are potential Test players going to manage when bowling on a flat surface for 2 days might mean they have to bowl about 30-35 overs. I don't think bowlers are getting their potential strength into their bodies because they are not bowling enough.

Neil Manthorp describes a sorry state of affairs in South Africa:
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/sport/cricket/2025-09-30-neil-manthorp-it-looks-like-sa-has-given-up-on-first-class-cricket/
He also makes some points relevant here:
"By not selecting the best available players and not doing anything to incentivise spectators, the message is clear: domestic first-class is an irritation, like unpleasant medicine. But until cricketers believe they can prepare adequately for Test cricket by practising in the nets, it is also critical medicine for the health of the greatest format of the game. Test cricket relies on its regular doses of first-class games. Administrators at the national and provincial levels must continue the effort to sweeten the medicine, however difficult that talk might be."

Support for the PCA view here:
https://sportsgazette.co.uk/county-crickets-crossroads-quantity-over-quality-chosen-by-ecb/
The writer's credibility is not enhanced when he mentions a player that he calls George Garrot.

Bit of a wishy washy argument full stop, that

Let's just hope the following from Surrey is true. What the game needs now more than anything is three or four years where nothing much changes or is likely to change. Just allow the game to ebb and flow like it used to. Just allow people to play and watch it when they are able to. OHD and whoever is paying him to spout such garbage should just allow somebody else to play if he or they are too tired to play - and that's kinda my main point. The structure should not be dislocated by the handful of mercenaries who jet off here and there in the winter spring and autumn.

For what it is worth, what I am hearing from someone who ought to know is that there is absolutely no way that the 14 match structure is going to be revisited in the next 3-4 years. So while we have to remain vigilant, the implication is that this year's mighty efforts are not just a one year sticking plaster

.

According to the Telegraph, the experiment with the Kookaburra ball in county cricket has been abandoned - it's the Dukes ball for all 14 games from now on.

That equates to on average an extra day or two's rest the players were after. So now all sorted and hopefully everyone's happy

mad wrote:

That equates to on average an extra day or two's rest the players were after. So now all sorted and hopefully everyone's happy

Apart from the paying public who woul love to see the extra couple of games so teams play each other home and away and the CC is played throughout the summer like it used to be!