HUW TURBERVILL: ECB chair Richard Thompson and incoming chief executive Richard Gould will sit down with the counties, with a resolution over the structure of the summer still a little way off
The 18 county chairs are set to meet senior ECB figures on February 23 as the quest for consensus on the makeup of the domestic season continues.
ECB chair Richard Thompson and incoming chief executive Richard Gould will sit down with the counties, with a resolution over the structure of the summer still a little way off.
When Thompson spoke to the media in Pakistan before Christmas he stressed that it was important for the 2024 fixture list to be sorted before the 2023 campaign starts, so teams know what they are playing for.
Counties will need to settle on whether to play 14, 12 or 10 County Championship matches. Some counties are reluctant to plump for 10, in part because they fear that the move would be defeated by members at EGMs.
The 18 county chairs are set for a February meeting with ECB management [Getty Images]
Twelve is an option, but there is no easy solution to allow this. A top flight of seven, with 11 in the lower tier, and two teams promoted, is possible. Thompson said that he didn’t like teams not playing each other twice, however, as was the case with Surrey and Hampshire last year.
The non-Test-ground clubs fear that having only five Championship home matches would see membership levels plummet even faster than has been the case in recent years. Many are also refusing to take a cut in the number of Blast matches. They currently host seven each. One county boss told The Cricketer that they favour 12 Championship, and a minimum of eight Blast and four 50-over games.
Many are keen for Blast matches in the school holidays. One potential option would be for the Blast to be wrapped around The Hundred, which seems to be safe for the immediate future despite criticism from Thompson and Gould when they were at Surrey.
Counties are not panicking about the stasis at the moment, for there is a feeling that they need to let Gould establish himself in his new post following his switch from Bristol City FC.
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