County cricket's new format: Our writers have their say on the plans for 2021

The ECB have unveiled a conference system to decide the County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy in 2021 in another structural change. SIMON HUGHES, HUW TURBERVILL, JAMES COYNE, SAM MORSHEAD, NICK HOWSON and NICK FRIEND have their say...

• ECB confirm County Championship restructure: Full details

SIMON HUGHES - Unpredictable nature benefits the game

I like the Championship arrangements for 2021. Just like this year – when the schedule was forced on the game by the pandemic - there is an openness to the structure: 10 four-day matches for each county, making each one special, an event and, because of the conference format, the opportunity for anyone to win the trophy.

That unpredictability of outcome is good, rather than the match-ups being only the product of last year’s relegation (or promotion). They encourage more spontaneity and risk-taking rather than micro-management and agendas dominating, like the jockeying for position for next year. They are all about now. It keeps everyone engaged.

The groups also guarantee the continuation of local acquaintances that were renewed this year – Somerset v Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire, Surrey v Middlesex, for example.

The best six teams then playing each other in the reconstituted division one sounds like a good concentration of talent and a decent preparation for international cricket, while the other teams still to get to play some more cricket. And then there is the five-day final as the climax.

To me it’s got everything. I wish I was still playing!

HUW TURBERVILL - The struggle to find a viable format

One unsatisfactory format or another seems to be the choice: conferences, or two divisions of 10/eight (the top flight not having all teams playing each other home or away).

There was some support – from Essex for one – for a return to one division. With 14 matches, teams would not play three of the 18.

While not ideal to have (some) three-day matches again, I’d have 17 matches (most of four days, and the rest three).

At least then that is a proper league.

At the moment in a non-Covid summer we play 56 days of red-ball cricket.

We could have nine four-day matches and eight three-day (that’s 60).

It’s probably a pipe dream.

You can see why they have gone for the conferences again next summer.

If the pandemic is still doing its worst there is scope for half a season.

After that there will be a review at the end of next summer, with the ECB stressing that two divisions of 10/8 is the current ‘default’ position. That is carefully worded.

The counties could insist on carrying on with conferences. We know Rod Bransgrove wants two divisions, and Gloucestershire are desperate to finally play in the top flight after all that hard work; but most of the counties in Division One plus Sussex oppose that: it breeds short-term thinking/signings, they say; leaves counties marooned in the lower tier, and we don’t have two divisions for 50-over/T20, so why have it for four-day cricket?

I also don’t see the point of having champions, say Somerset. Then having Essex beat them in the final.

Like Liverpool winning the league last year. Only for Manchester City to beat them in the ‘league final’.

^{The County Championship has been restructured for 2021}

JAMES COYNE - A solution, albeit a complicated one

Another County Championship, another restructure. Introducing yet another trophy into the county season hardly makes our sport any easier to navigate.

First of all, though, the ECB should be congratulated in trying to seek a sensible solution to make sure such a vital competition actually does its job, especially after incurring such heavy financial losses. It might have been easier to just write it off and throw all their eggs in the basket marked ‘white-ball revenues’.

The retention of 14 matches per team seemed unlikely a few weeks ago, and will delight county members who want bang for their buck, but possibly not all of the poor bloody infantry (the seam bowlers) who have to run in for four or five more games more than they might have hoped. At the same time there will be some red-ball specialists breathing easier about their contract after this.

For 2021, seedings have been used to decide the groups, plus the provision of local derbies factored in. Though there’s no derbies for Essex, Nottinghamshire and Durham in Group 1; Leicestershire in Group 2; or Northamptonshire and Glamorgan in Group 3. I personally feel that, in future years, if they are going to go down the conference route they should decide seedings only on finishing positions the previous year. What’s that old saying? Ah yes, ‘You can’t please everyone all the time…’

There is great merit in a first-class final, the kind we stumbled across in 2020, though if it’s genuinely of that stature I’d prefer it to be given first-class broadcasting treatment. I’m not so antediluvian as to be against live-streams: they have been a revelation in terms of accessibility to the Championship. I just think Sky, with all their resources, really should be broadcasting one flagship first-class domestic match per year as they used to. The standard of the BWT final this year was simply too good not to be on TV.

The problem with the Bob Willis Trophy final in 2021 is that whoever wins the showpiece – presumably at Lord’s – won’t be able to call themselves ‘the county champions’ as Essex legitimately could this year. Unless they do the double, of course.

Once the season is back firing on all cylinders, I fail to see how the game can accommodate a 14-game County Championship, Royal London Cup, T20 Blast and The Hundred without seriously diminishing at least two of them. The only way to make all these Championship matches worthwhile is to play some in high-summer in the day, with The Hundred in the evenings – a structure the ECB were reluctant to commit to before the pandemic.

Once Covid-19 has passed English cricket desperately needs to settle on a structure for at least the next five years… until the next existential crisis, of course.

^{A conference system will help determine the winner}

SAM MORSHEAD - Long-term potential aplenty

So I think I've got this right: the top teams in the group stage play off for the County Championship, the top two in the second group stage face-off for the Bob Willis Trophy, and the team with the fewest votes after the Bushtucker Trial will not be allowed to mix indoors with other households?

I'm being deliberately difficult. In fact, I am totally onboard with a conference system which introduces new match-ups and plenty of competitive spice from the start of April to the end of September.

The notion of a "Race to Lord's" or "Super September" appeals, and should be sellable by both counties and, importantly, broadcasters. A red-ball final at the Home of Cricket was, behind the introduction of the women's professional contracts, the most significant innovation in the domestic game this Covid summer and there is good reason for it to stay.

It might be argued that this new-look Championship is a blend of various compromises, a sort of experimental campaign with the spectre of the coronavirus likely to still be hovering around our game, but I think there is long-term potential.

The format can fit neatly into a congested season, it can engage fans and, whisper it, perhaps even gain more than a passing interest from those who had previously walked straight on by.

Inevitably, the new structure will have its detractors, and those who insist it is unnecessarily complex. But really, the ECB have borrowed some of the best bits from the various conferencing systems on Planet Sport and created, in a very short time, a viable solution to an unenviable problem.

^{The Bob Willis Trophy will also be competed for}

NICK HOWSON - Intrigue, danger and plenty of excitement

This is a format full of consequential cricket with jeopardy attached more-or-less throughout. You can't ask for much more from a sporting competition.

Such was the push from the recently successful red-ball counties who didn't want a five-day shoot-out with everything on the line, there is no surprise to see space created between the County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy.

A season-ending red-ball final at Lord's can become a real occasion going forward. Let's just hope we have a crowd around to provide atmosphere and texture.

During a year in which we have been asked to adhere and understand constantly changing rules, I do sympathise with supporters having a new structure thrust upon them.

Each side will still play 14 matches and the big derbies have been retained. Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire (and Somerset) will arguably never have a better chance to break their Championship duck. Seeding for future editions is up for grabs in groups two and three.

Nevertheless, there will be some who are left behind by another batch of regulations.

I would have prefered both red-ball trophies were up for grabs in the showcase final, but the separation is understandable. The timing of the October final and the less-prestigious silverware up for grabs opens up the possibility of it being ditched down the line, particularly if draws or the weather dominates.

NICK FRIEND - Interesting, with a dusting of Scottish football

I like it. Given the uncertainty still lingering in the air ahead of next year and question marks around where society – and the pandemic – will sit, splitting the red-ball campaign into two parts retains the scope for a half-season should circumstances require similar flexibility to this year.

The plans reek of compromise, which is no bad thing necessarily – an amalgamation of the County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy to appease those on either side of the debate, presumably.

There is something quite appealing about the make-up of the groups as well; Essex have been drawn with Derbyshire and Durham – none of whom have played each other in red-ball cricket since Essex’s promotion under Chris Silverwood. Meanwhile, Group Three looks tantalisingly open. I’d argue as well that ensuring 14 first-class matches per county is a fair expression of commitment to the longer format.

If I hold one concern, it is of what happens post-split. In principle, I don’t mind the division – it has echoes of the Scottish Premier League’s late-season structure. But while Division One will remain a competitive fight for a Lord’s appearance in the Bob Willis Trophy final, what becomes of the rest? Do we not then risk a September-long stream of meaningless games?

Otherwise, I think I’m sold – for the time being, at least. I can certainly understand those who will have misgivings. Speaking to Gloucestershire batsman Jack Taylor earlier this week, he expressed the hope that his side would see the rewards for their 2019 promotion – a belated crack at taking on the top tier.

“With us being out of Division One for so long, to not have a crack at it would take the tint off it a little bit, I guess. Our achievement of doing it was amazing, but I think we’d all like the opportunity to play in a two-tiered divisional system,” he admitted.

But, of course, there is no suggestion yet that this is a long-term solution, even if there is seems like a plan with potential to succeed in the future as well as this uncertain present. The idea of a late-summer contest – six teams competing against one another for two trophies – could well be a masterstroke. Equally, however, I would accept the counter-argument that holding a final after crowning the winner could become seen as an unnecessary gimmick.

Even so, I think it ticks multiple boxes. Now, to get spectators back in to decide for themselves…

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