Andy wrote:

I assume the players will be taking pay cuts if this all happens?

And membership prices reduced ?

They will argue better quality but it's nonsense..they will still squeeze in the county championship in April, May and September

I'm sorry you just can't call it a championship any longer if, as mooted, they cut it to 8 pissing games

4 home games FFS!?

And not even playing one of the teams in your division?! Absolute piss take!

They may as well abolish it altogether

Bring back 2 divisions of 9 and tell these bloated squads and the parasitic PCA to get the hell on with it

I think the threat of eight games is so that we will be pleased when it is only reduced to 12.

I received this yesterday

I've had two county bosses contact me in the last 24 hours unprompted.

Both confirm that the 8 match CC before the Blast in June and then 3/4 play offs in September is the preferred solution. Top division of 10 to remain so the 8 games means you don't play one county and in div 2 you play one county twice!

The playoffs are back to back games in September vulnerable to weather and failing light. 4 back to back games is one of the main PCA complaints so why they think it's a good idea to have the finale of the competition done in such intensity at the end of the season is beyond me.

Nothing about the modern game and the insistence on lots of preparation time (which translates as utterly wasted 'fallow days' especially when we get lots of fallow days stacked together for weeks on end in June, July and August) and the athletic prowess some of the players possess now, the sprinting and relay catches etc... pretty as they are... will ever make up for the loss of opportunities to watch red ball cricket in places like this;
https://youtu.be/I6B6EQNPWng?si=qXlVrfko9A0jSptw
Nice interview with Tom Cartwright in the tea interval

BosworthBear wrote:

I received this yesterday

I've had two county bosses contact me in the last 24 hours unprompted.

Both confirm that the 8 match CC before the Blast in June and then 3/4 play offs in September is the preferred solution. Top division of 10 to remain so the 8 games means you don't play one county and in div 2 you play one county twice!

The playoffs are back to back games in September vulnerable to weather and failing light. 4 back to back games is one of the main PCA complaints so why they think it's a good idea to have the finale of the competition done in such intensity at the end of the season is beyond me.**
🤮
They have a whole load of nonsense games that don't matter one jot in August to peddle to the masses so they've been desperately striving these last 5 years to make the rest of the summer matter almost as little as that codswallop

mad wrote:

Nothing about the modern game and the insistence on lots of preparation time (which translates as utterly wasted 'fallow days' especially when we get lots of fallow days stacked together for weeks on end in June, July and August) and the athletic prowess some of the players possess now, the sprinting and relay catches etc... pretty as they are... will ever make up for the loss of opportunities to watch red ball cricket in places like this;
https://youtu.be/I6B6EQNPWng?si=qXlVrfko9A0jSptw
Nice interview with Tom Cartwright in the tea interval

Great to see the interview with my hero, Tom Cartwright.
And what a lovely setting! I saw first-class cricket at Abergavenny and on my wall I have a print of Cricket at Abergavenny, painted by ex-Sussex cricketer Martin Speight.

I see that Middlesex members are revolting!
https://www.cityam.com/middlesex-members-force-vote-on-county-championship-and-t20-blast/

Nothing I hear from administrators and rule-makers, make me feel any better than I did 10 years ago when some numpty at the ECB was saying that only 50+ people watch the CC then said that we shouldn't have CC at weekends because he wanted to see young people playing cricket not watching - So he said that the youngsters were not watching the CC but we should not have it at weekends because they should be playing in cricket clubs, probably the most stupid contradiction I have ever heard in my life. From then on, I lost face in the ECB. All they are interested in is the same old line about money. Money won't buy success in any sport or else Brazil and Argentina would never win 8 world cup in football, between them. The old line about "Investing in grass roots cricket is what we need...", well, you can have as much money as you like but you need youngsters to WANT to play and not playing it in schools is a massive problem so why not employ ex-players to take it into schools with free equipment paid for by all this money that is made from The Hundread that they say is being made. Also, get more of it on TV, one of the things that got me interested was one day switching on the TV and gradually becoming interested in what was in front of me. You cannot get a young person to become interested in something that they cannot see.

paulbear wrote:

Nothing I hear from administrators and rule-makers, make me feel any better than I did 10 years ago when some numpty at the ECB was saying that only 50+ people watch the CC then said that we shouldn't have CC at weekends because he wanted to see young people playing cricket not watching - So he said that the youngsters were not watching the CC but we should not have it at weekends because they should be playing in cricket clubs, probably the most stupid contradiction I have ever heard in my life. From then on, I lost face in the ECB. All they are interested in is the same old line about money. Money won't buy success in any sport or else Brazil and Argentina would never win 8 world cup in football, between them. The old line about "Investing in grass roots cricket is what we need...", well, you can have as much money as you like but you need youngsters to WANT to play and not playing it in schools is a massive problem so why not employ ex-players to take it into schools with free equipment paid for by all this money that is made from The Hundread that they say is being made. Also, get more of it on TV, one of the things that got me interested was one day switching on the TV and gradually becoming interested in what was in front of me. You cannot get a young person to become interested in something that they cannot see.

I seem to remember that when I was young, there were several things that I couldn't see that I was interested in - but that's a whole other story and nothing to do with cricket.

GerryShedd wrote:

paulbear wrote:

Nothing I hear from administrators and rule-makers, make me feel any better than I did 10 years ago when some numpty at the ECB was saying that only 50+ people watch the CC then said that we shouldn't have CC at weekends because he wanted to see young people playing cricket not watching - So he said that the youngsters were not watching the CC but we should not have it at weekends because they should be playing in cricket clubs, probably the most stupid contradiction I have ever heard in my life. From then on, I lost face in the ECB. All they are interested in is the same old line about money. Money won't buy success in any sport or else Brazil and Argentina would never win 8 world cup in football, between them. The old line about "Investing in grass roots cricket is what we need...", well, you can have as much money as you like but you need youngsters to WANT to play and not playing it in schools is a massive problem so why not employ ex-players to take it into schools with free equipment paid for by all this money that is made from The Hundread that they say is being made. Also, get more of it on TV, one of the things that got me interested was one day switching on the TV and gradually becoming interested in what was in front of me. You cannot get a young person to become interested in something that they cannot see.

I seem to remember that when I was young, there were several things that I couldn't see that I was interested in - but that's a whole other story and nothing to do with cricket.

Gerry - that's the naughtiest contribution you have ever made - or is that just my naughty mind? Forbidden Fruits was always an attraction!!

Paul - A very interesting view. My interest came from watching test matches in black and white with the camera only at one end of the ground! And of course TMS with the likes of Arlott and Blowers feeding your imagination. What a great idea the ECB funding taking cricket into the state schools using services of ex-cricketers.
If the sport is not played at school, is not advertised extensively and is not seen at home (on TV) then how are youngsters going to get interested in the sport?

It must just be your mind, LE! My thoughts are and always have been a model of purity and innocence.
I agree with the views expressed above..
Of course, Chance to Shine do some excellent work in bringing cricket to young people and get some support from the ECB but deserve more.

Come on Gerry, we knew exactly what you meant. I suppose when you were young it might be that like me you knew if you couldn't reach the top shelf of the newsagents, the man behind the counter looking at you suspiciously was never going to be believe you were old enough to buy them anyway. I am of course talking about Airfix models.

Didn't know Airfix made models that had to be on the top shelf - damn another missed opportunity.

Ah yes, all those top shelf models.

They were only on the top shelf because of those delicate pieces, you don't want those getting damaged.

George Dobell in The Cricketer reports that the steering group looking at proposals for the future shape of county cricket is close to finalising alternatives that will then be put to the counties.
He says:
"There is something close to consensus over the future shape of the limited-overs competitions. The Blast, for example, looks set to be reduced to 12 matches
It also seems highly likely that the One Day Cup will continue to be played at the same time as The Hundred.
There is more disagreement over the future shape of the Championship. Among the likely options on the shortlist is something very similar to the Bob Willis Trophy, featuring three conferences of six teams each, which would mean all 18 teams could win the title at the start of the season.
Another option, favoured by a significant number of counties, features two groups of six. Counties would play all teams in the opposite group home and away (meaning 12 games) before two semi-finals and a final.
The remaining six teams would only play each other, but, mitigating concerns they could be 'left behind', two of them could be promoted each year. This option could involve play-offs against the sides bottom of the other two groups.
The final option will retain a two-divisional structure involving promotion and relegation. It's yet to be agreed how many teams would be in each division. A top tier of seven, eight, 10 and 11 teams have all been discussed, though 10 seems the likely option at this time."

It will be interesting to hear what Warwickshire (and other counties) have to say about how they will consult their members.

If both the Blast and the Championship have reduced fixtures next season then the domestic game really is in a right mess

I'm not a fan of play-offs as a means of determining end of season positions. Presumably the ECB looked at the crowds drawn to Wembley finals in the EFL and thought "Ooh, money!" but I'm not sure that it would translate to cricket well. Whilst the last few Septembers feel like they've had good weather (any thoughts, Exiled Bear?), it is not unknown for the early autumn to be wet leading to drawn games and the need for some artificial way of deciding who "won". A league is a league and the team that has the best record over the year should win it.

When the 100 novelty wears off, as it will, and viewing figures reduce the TV companies will drop it like a stone. What annoys me is BBC have 4 TV channels so why do they need a game they can slot in between other programmes? BBC4 is not used until 7pm so why don't they have cricket at the week end - the Blast on a Sunday afternoon finishing before 7pm would fit a treat. In the week they could have the 4 day game with limited commentary costing very little. That way the 16.4 could be confined to the WPB allowing more room for the format that has lasted over 100 years.