Reduction in T20 Blast matches sticking point among counties following high-performance review

GEORGE DOBELL: The plans unveiled by the review, chaired by former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss, propose the Blast is cut to 10 games in the group stage. That would mean counties hosting five home games instead of seven

A cut in the number of T20 Blast games is likely to prove the biggest obstacle to the counties voting through the plans of the ECB's high-performance review.

The plans unveiled by the review, chaired by former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss, propose the Blast is cut to 10 games in the group stage. That would mean counties hosting five home games instead of seven.

While the ECB insist that more sympathetic scheduling would enable the counties to sustain the levels of income made with more games, it is a proposal which has been met with anger by a significant number of counties. In particular, the non-Test (or Hundred) hosting counties, for which membership income and T20 Blast ticket sales are a significant part of their income, are almost certain to reject the proposal.

One county chair described the plans as "ludicrous"; another as "total nonsense". A third suggested the plans could cost their club around £300,000 a year. With inflation as it is, such a blow could prove catastrophic to a county.

^{T20 Blast nights are big money-makers for counties [Getty Images]}

So shocked were the counties by the proposal, one suggested it was a "bargaining ploy" with little expectation of success. Instead, they suspect it will prove a tool in negotiations about the number of first-class games. They suspect that, if they agree to the plans to reduce the Championship programme to 10 games per season, the ECB will relent on the issue of T20 Blast games.

There was no sign of such a scenario in the briefing given by the ECB at Lord's on Wednesday afternoon. While Vikram Banerjee, the ECB's head of strategy, accepted the reduction in games, he argued that better scheduling – with more games played at weekends – would help counties sell more tickets.

"There is a reduction in Blast matches," Banerjee said. "But what it does mean is that they can be scheduled on those peak days.

"So there will be fewer on a Monday and Tuesday, when counties have told us they really struggle to fill their grounds, and more on Thursday, Friday and Sunday afternoon."

And while some of the counties dismissed the suggestion of fewer Blast games as a debating tactic, Strauss suggested that any change in the proposals would compromise the scheduling of the entire season.

"It's impossible to keep everyone content," Strauss said. "You've got to look at these things in the round. That's the reality of the domestic structure. You can't solve one thing without unsolving another thing.

"What we need to understand is how important it is for us to have a coherent schedule. And the answer to quality is not quantity. A higher standard and a more intense red-ball competition should be a great thing for members, for players, for groundsmen and for coaches.

"If you start broadening the Blast, for instance, you're either scheduling it on worse nights or you're scheduling it earlier in the summer; both of which we've heard the counties don't want to do."

^{Smaller counties are concerned about the potential impact of a reduction from seven home Blast matches to five [Getty Images]}

The concern of the counties is increased by uncertainty around other areas of funding. As part of the deal to allow the ECB to stage a new competition involving new team identifies, the counties agreed a compensation package of £1.3m a year for five years. At this stage, however, there is no agreement beyond those five years and the counties are concerned that, with the ECB facing a budget shortfall due to inflationary pressures, the payments could be reduced.

Several counties are also uncomfortable about a reduction in the number of Championship matches. While the offer of a regional tournament in August, played in the window dominated by The Hundred, may console some, others have made commitments to their members over the number of Championship matches. A reduction in the number of Championship matches could lead to a reduction in membership income.

"In terms of the County Championship, the counties have fed back to us that they want high quality matches on high quality pitches," Strauss said. "That is more meaningful. We need to understand it’s not all about volume."

A minimum of 12 of the 18 first-class counties will have to approve the proposals for them to come into effect.

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