County Championship Should Be Cut To 12 Games - Pca

Cutting nan County Championship from 14 games to 12 is nan "only reasonable option" to protect use and amended standards, according to nan Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).

A reappraisal into nan building of nan home game, aiming to instrumentality changes adjacent season, is owed to reason successful nan coming weeks.

A simplification successful nan T20 Blast from nan existent strategy of 2 groups playing 14 games, to 3 groups playing 12 games, is group to beryllium agreed.

But nan early of nan Championship is little clear, pinch a number of options connected nan table.

The position quo of 10 teams successful nan apical formation and 8 successful nan 2nd tier could remain. The divisions could beryllium flipped, to 8 successful Division One and 10 successful Division Two. Either building could see 14 aliases 12 games per season.

Another action would beryllium to person a 12-team apical flight, divided into conferences of six, pinch a 2nd tier of six teams.

The champions would beryllium decided by a play-off betwixt nan winners of nan 2 top-tier conferences, pinch 1 of nan 2 promotion places from nan 2nd tier decided by a play-off betwixt teams finishing 2nd and third.

This strategy would mean 12 games for each region and a 13th for those progressive successful play-off matches.

The PCA prefers nan convention model, but would besides support nan accepted divisional structure, arsenic agelong arsenic either is played complete 12 games per county.

It points to investigation carried retired among players, wherever 83% said nan existent schedule caused interest for their beingness wellbeing and 67% person worries for nan intelligence health.

"The schedule has ever been a contentious issue," said PCA chair and Warwickshire seamer Olly Hannon-Dalby.

"The emotion successful caller seasons owed to ever-increasing strength of fixtures has led nan crippled to a position wherever affirmative action has to beryllium taken instantly and arsenic an opportunity for nan crippled to grow.

"A alteration successful format of nan County Championship to 12 convention games is nan only reasonable action and would respire caller life into what I judge would go nan champion red-ball title successful nan world."

Any alteration to nan home building would person to beryllium approved by 12 of nan 18 first-class counties. There are nary plans to change nan One-Day Cup, which is played alongside The Hundred successful August.

Some counties person already publically expressed their preferred options.

Surrey and Somerset person supported an eight-team apical formation and 10-team 2nd tier, retaining 14 games per season.

Middlesex person backed nan position quo: 10 teams successful Division One, 8 successful Division Two and 14 games.

Durham and Lancashire person thrown their weight down nan 12-team apical flight, while Worcestershire person supported some nan convention and 10-team first division.

In 2022, a high-performance reappraisal led by erstwhile England skipper Andrew Strauss projected cutting some nan Championship and Blast to 10 games each. The reappraisal was wide rejected by nan counties.

Whereas that reappraisal was undertaken by nan England and Wales Cricket Board, this latest activity has been led by nan counties successful bid to find an optimum set-up for clubs and players.

It was felt now is an opportune clip to enactment for a number of reasons: a caller women's master building has been implanted and awesome matches person been allocated to venues for nan foreseeable future.

Most importantly, money owed from income of stakes of teams successful The Hundred should return financial unit disconnected nan counties.

However, fixed nan two-thirds mostly required to enact change, on pinch nan competing priorities and opinions, nan position quo could stay simply because a statement cannot beryllium reached.