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2021 Season Groups

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In short: Because of COVID this is a stopgap for 2021. So will be reviewed again for 2022.
First group stage is home & away matches. (10 in total)
Second group stage is only home OR away. (4 new matches, plus carry over result from the team you were with from the first group - I don't know how this works yet since they're obviously 2 matches in first group stage)
Top two from the top division play a final.
They fixed it a little bit so there were some derbies in the first stage. Draws were seeded.
 
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just for 2021, Today’s announcement follows discussions between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the First-Class Counties to help restart the County Championship, whilst mitigating against the impact of COVID-19 next summer. The agreed revised structure is for the 2021 men’s first-class season only.
 
Lancashire and Yorkshire in the same Group - who could have predicted that??;)
Silly Point said:
Me too. Can’t work out how it works. Still two divisions but you’re in groups with counties from the other division?
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From my understanding of it the two division structure is no more for 2021 ( and you can bet your bottom dollar this format will be around for much longer even if Covid eventually disappears).

On the upside I suppose we have a chance of being crowned County Champions next year and we may get a chance to see Essex at the Riverside for once.:lol:
 
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The Red Telephone said:
Lancashire and Yorkshire in the same Group - who could have predicted that??;)


From my understanding of it the two division structure is no more for 2021 ( and you can bet your bottom dollar this format will be around for much longer even if Covid eventually disappears).

On the upside I suppose we have a chance of being crowned County Champions next year and we may get a chance to see Essex at the Riverside for once.:lol:
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Have you never played Essex like?
 
So ten games early season within our Group, of which six will be against former Div1 sides, then four more games in our Phase 2 division later in the summer, one each against four teams from other groups. Certainly mixes things up a bit! It’ll be good to see how we fare against some different teams. I like the variety. There’s fourteen games each, so no reduction in first class cricket and everyone has a crack at the trophy. If we end up in the new 2nd or 3rd division for the second phase there’s still the interest of aiming to that!
 
Makes sense now :-
Each First-Class County has initially been placed into one of three seeded groups of six and will be scheduled to play five home, and five away, matches during the Group Stage.

The top two counties in each group, at the end of the Group Stage, will progress to Division One, with the other counties moving into Divisions Two and Three, where they will each play a further four matches.

The winner of Division One will be crowned the 2021 County Championship winners.

The top two teams in Division One will also earn the right to play in the Bob Willis Trophy final at Lord’s.
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Don’t like it. Two divisions has been great for cricket.

Either there’ll be a set of permanent whipping boys or a leveling out of quality, which means the premium level that Div 1 provided will go.
 
The bbc explain it quite well
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in short

How will it work?
  • Each county will play 10 four-day games in the group stage - five home and five away.
  • The top two teams in each group will go through to a second group stage called Division One.
  • The six teams in Division One play a further four matches, with the side that finishes top of Division One crowned 2021 County Championship winners.
  • The top two teams in Division One will contest five-day Bob Willis Trophy final at Lord's.
  • The remaining 12 teams that do not go into Division One will move into Divisions Two and Three, in which teams will play another four matches.
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what i don't get is what is the point of the last bit, for teams who don't qualify for a play off for the lords final, they go off and play another four games for nowt. i mean, i love cricket, it just seems a bit pointless
 
Twisted said:
The bbc explain it quite well
You must be logged on to see external links


in short



what i don't get is what is the point of the last bit, for teams who don't qualify for a play off for the lords final, they go off and play another four games for nowt. i mean, i love cricket, it just seems a bit pointless
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I suppose it prepares English cricketers for Ashes tours where we're already 2-0 down after 2 Tests and the series is dead already!
 
TheRey said:
I suppose it prepares English cricketers for Ashes tours where we're already 2-0 down after 2 Tests and the series is dead already!
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I wonder if it will be used for promotion /relegation for div1/2/3 the following year.

Although that makes no sense because div1/2/3 make no difference.

I give up
 
Twisted said:
The bbc explain it quite well
You must be logged on to see external links


in short



what i don't get is what is the point of the last bit, for teams who don't qualify for a play off for the lords final, they go off and play another four games for nowt. i mean, i love cricket, it just seems a bit pointless
Click to expand...

I assume it’ll impact seedings for the following year to some degree.
 
Twisted said:
The bbc explain it quite well
You must be logged on to see external links


in short



what i don't get is what is the point of the last bit, for teams who don't qualify for a play off for the lords final, they go off and play another four games for nowt. i mean, i love cricket, it just seems a bit pointless
Click to expand...

Just seems to be a return to the meaningless end of season games that you used to get in the Championship before the two division format was introduced in 2000.

Still I'm sure the ECB know what they're doing.:D
 
The daft thing for me is having a 2021 County Championship Winner and Bob Willis Trophy Winner. It will relegate the 5-day match to being a bit of a sideshow.
 
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