Andrew Strauss outlines plan for "bold and ambitious" ECB review

GEORGE DOBELL: Andrew Strauss hopes the review which, in his words, is "not a domestic structure review", will be completed in time to shape the 2023 season. He also wants an honest acceptance of where England are right now

Andrew Strauss has provided more details of a review he hopes will establish England as "the best in the world in all formats".

Strauss, the interim managing director of England men’s cricket, hopes the review which, in his words, is "not a domestic structure review", will be completed in time to shape the 2023 season. That means, he believes, it will need to be completed – including having provided recommendations – by October.

But while Strauss’ ambitions are high, he feels a reality check is required in the short term. And he hopes an honest acceptance from all parties about where England are right now will focus minds and ensure all involved work together for the greater good.

"If we're honest, in Test cricket, we have been No. 1 for 12 months in 42 years," Strauss said as he watched England training on Monday. "We’ve had moments where we've been very good and times when we’ve been in the top three or four teams. We're [currently] in a similar place to white-ball cricket before 2016.

"So, what is the scale of our ambition in England? I believe we're looking very strongly at being in the best in the world in all formats.

^{England have the chance to be the best in the world in all three formats, believes Strauss [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

"The important thing to say on this is in order for England to have a chance to be the best team in the world we need an aligned high performance system and that includes England at the top level, our international pathway and the domestic game as well. I don’t think from a starting point anyone can argue with is having an aligned system.

"What people might argue about is how many Championship games we play and who plays where. But if we take a broader view, the competition structure possibly emerges out of that. It’s only one strand in a number of different strands but my gut feeling is that there will be a lot more that unites us than divides us through this process. I sense an appetite for us to be bold in our approach."

Strauss said he was still in the process of assembling a panel to lead the review, but it is understood that Lord Ian Botham has accepted an approach to be involved.

"The first stage of the review we’re putting that group together currently," he said. "There’s no one been appointed yet. I’ve been asked to set this up and look after the process on effectively stage one which is the high performance stage and then stage two is the independent analysis evidence based process.

"We’re looking for a degree of independence in the first two stages, the high performance group and the consultation," he said. "So we’re in conversation with a number of consultancies to help us with that.

"We want recommendations to be signed off in time for the 2023 domestic season so that really means by the end of September this year ideally. You could stretch it a bit but these projects can get very broad and you can get stuck. So it’s important to focus people’s minds. If we’re going to do it, we’ve got to do it for 2023."

^{Lord Ian Botham (right) is understood to be on the review panel [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

While there has been a great deal of speculation about possible solutions – fewer first-class matches, using hybrid pitches and kookaburra balls, a knock-out limited-overs competition and an end to the white-ball window – Strauss insisted it would be premature to leap to conclusions before the review had started.

"I’m loathe to jump to solution mode. The danger with all this is people just say we should play more Championship cricket in July and August or whatever. We’ve got to let this review run its course.

"We need to look at what's working well and what's not. It's a big consultation piece.

"You’ve got to start with a blank piece of paper. I’ve been through two domestic structure review processes before. The problem is if you start with too many constraints, it really limits your ability to think in those bold terms.

"There are some realities we’re going to encounter along the way: fans; scheduling, all of those things will hit us at some point. But we should start with what’s our ambition, and what are the levers we can pull to realise that ambition. This isn’t a domestic structure review; this is a high performance system review."