In a joint statement released by the Professional Cricketers' Association, chair James Harris and county reps Sam Cook of Essex and Gloucestershire's David Payne criticised the calendar for next summer which was unveiled on Thursday (November 23)
The "unrelenting" English domestic schedule for 2024 has "disregarded" player welfare, according to the players' union.
In a joint statement released by the Professional Cricketers' Association, chair James Harris and county reps Sam Cook of Essex and Gloucestershire's David Payne criticised the calendar for next summer which was unveiled on Thursday (November 23).
At October's PCA player summit, as previously reported by The Cricketer, the issue of teams having to play T20 Blast matches on consecutive days was raised.
It not only has a negative impact on results – team lose their second match more often than not when asked to play on consecutive days – but more importantly, it presents mental wellbeing challenges, most notably the "dangerous travel windows" which see players and staff driving for several hours late at night between fixtures.
Sam Cook, James Harris and David Payne [Getty Images]
Sussex head coach, Paul Farbrace, believes it simply isn't "elite sport" to expect players to finish a match at 10pm, arrive home after midnight and go again the following day.
Speaking to The Cricketer, he recalled an encountering one of his Sussex players at a petrol following a T20 Blast match: "We had a brief exchange while we were filling up, and then he got in his car to go one way and I got in mine to go the other. All my journey home I was thinking: 'I hope this kid gets home safely…'
"I sat down with him two days later and told him I wanted him to have a break. I told him that my whole concern was him driving late at night, on his own, after a game. He would have been analysing the game, not thinking about driving properly."
A player on the women's regional circuit told The Cricketer she had once "not been far off falling asleep at the wheel after a 50-over game" while last season, Middlesex's director of cricket, Alan Coleman, wore a heartrate monitor during his side's T20 win over Surrey and through the subsequent night. Results showed his heartrate only returned to a level conducive to a restful period of sleep at 5am.
"It was hugely eye-opening for me," he said. "It gave me an explanation as to how I was feeling: I was exhausted at that point in the year. Knowing that you're sleeping but not actually getting any rest definitely helps you contextualise it. The subsequent knock-on to the next day is quite significant."
The Charlotte Edwards Cup isn't immune to fixture congestion [Tony Marshall/Getty Images]
However, despite these concerns, in next season's T20 Blast there are 52 occasions of teams playing back-to-back matches, 15 more than in 2023. Durham, Essex, Surrey, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Middlesex and Sussex have matches on successive days four times apiece.
In the Charlotte Edwards Cup, meanwhile, there are six instances of teams playing back-to-back matches scheduled for next season. In 2023, there were five.
"My biggest issue is the welfare of players and support staff being disregarded, particularly with regards to travel throughout high-intensity periods of T20 cricket," said Essex bowler Cook.
"This has been repeatedly stressed in numerous PCA summits and despite this, the schedule still provides the same problems by not focusing on player welfare.
"In addition, the expectation to perform despite inadequate recovery time across formats concerns me greatly. This has an enormous impact on both performance and increases the risk of injury. As players, we want to give supporters the highest standards possible and in turn, create an even better produce for the ECB and the game."
The PCA have criticised elements of the T20 Blast schedule [Ashley Allen/Getty Images]
Payne echoed Cook's concerns, believing players will be forced to "pick and choose between formats" due to the "unrelenting fixture list".
"Finishing a T20 game late on a Thursday night in Cardiff, followed by playing another T20 the following night in Bristol, and expecting to be at peak condition to play a four-day game at Scarborough on the Sunday morning is one example. This sort of scheduling does not allow for high performance, or look after the welfare of the players."
Harris, meanwhile, praised certain elements of the schedule, including the increase in the number of T20 doubleheaders and presence of red-ball cricket in all six months of the men's calendar, but warned lessons must be learned for the 2025 campaign.
"While the opportunities players have are no doubt greater than ever before, the county system must adapt to allow players the chance to progress their careers in a way that respects the welfare of the individuals who perform on the pitch," he said.
"The recent player summit saw the men's county schedule as a high priority with the players in attendance displaying dissatisfaction at the structure following research within their dressing rooms. It is apparent things need to change for 2025."
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