Bri
Striker
I don't know how I feel about this.... I could actually be a good idea. Written by Scyld Berry for yesterday's Telegraph.
Conferences were not considered a great idea when Lord MacLaurin proposed them to replace the county championship 20 years ago. But the ECB Working Group which held its first meeting at Lord’s on Wednesday is expected to conclude that the time has come for them to be implemented in 2020.
The difference between now and 1997 is that the championship is effectively split into two halves of the season, early and late, with 50- and 20-over matches, and the future 100-ball format, in the middle. Today sees the start of the Royal London One-Day Cup. There are only four more championship rounds before the second half of August, by when many will have forgotten the standings.
Since the MacLaurin proposal, a championship of two divisions was introduced in 2000. The pros have been manifest: the quasi-Test intensity of Division One. So too the cons: the acceptance of Division Two status by less affluent counties who prioritise white-ball formats. Neither Glamorgan nor Gloucestershire have been in Division One for a decade.
“If we want to protect red-ball cricket, and keep the 18 counties interested in playing red-ball cricket, we’ve got to do something different to what we are currently doing,” Moxon said before the meeting.
“And if there’s a desire to produce England-qualified cricketers, I think it’s generally agreed - certainly among coaches around the country - the current system isn’t going to allow that to happen, because it produces short-term thinking. If two of the eight teams in the first division are relegated, it’s all about winning now. So a lot of decisions are short-term and the recruitment of ready-made players to make sure you stay in the first division is not helping the production of England-qualified cricketers.”
“If we want to protect red-ball cricket, and keep the 18 counties interested in playing red-ball cricket, we’ve got to do something different to what we are currently doing,” Moxon said before the meeting.
“And if there’s a desire to produce England-qualified cricketers, I think it’s generally agreed - certainly among coaches around the country - the current system isn’t going to allow that to happen, because it produces short-term thinking. If two of the eight teams in the first division are relegated, it’s all about winning now. So a lot of decisions are short-term and the recruitment of ready-made players to make sure you stay in the first division is not helping the production of England-qualified cricketers.”
“The majority of coaches felt the Conference system would ignite the interest of the whole 18 counties, and the point was made that for second division clubs to get better they have to play against first division clubs more often,” Moxon added. “That every county would have the chance every year of winning the county championship appeals to a lot of people.”
“The other thing we haven’t mentioned is the movement of players. It’s now perceived that you have to be in the first division. Any second division county that does a good job with a player, they can’t keep hold of him, because the first division is a lure, so they are in a cycle of defeat, aren’t they?”
Moxon has proposed three conferences of six counties each: they would play each other twice each, home and away, in early season. Then the top two counties in each conference would go into the first division in the latter part of the season, with each county playing the other five once. The third and fourth counties in each conference would go into the second division, fifth and six into the third. Each county therefore has 15 games per season.
The devil will lie in the details to be discussed in the coming months. I would be in favour of the 10 games in the Conferences being scheduled for three days. Many championship matches in April and early May end in three days because conditions favour pace bowlers. Yes, the batsmen need to be encouraged to “bat time”, to survive at the crease all day, but that can still be done in a hard-fought battle for first innings lead in a drawn game eg ten points for a lead, 20 for a win, and no bonus points.
Then there would be room in the second half of the season for the matches in August and September to be extended from five to ten in each division, home and away, as four-day games. Two separate first-class competitions, one for each part of the summer, bookending the three white-ball formats: no system is perfect but it could come closer to being the best of all championship worlds.
Conferences were not considered a great idea when Lord MacLaurin proposed them to replace the county championship 20 years ago. But the ECB Working Group which held its first meeting at Lord’s on Wednesday is expected to conclude that the time has come for them to be implemented in 2020.
The difference between now and 1997 is that the championship is effectively split into two halves of the season, early and late, with 50- and 20-over matches, and the future 100-ball format, in the middle. Today sees the start of the Royal London One-Day Cup. There are only four more championship rounds before the second half of August, by when many will have forgotten the standings.
Since the MacLaurin proposal, a championship of two divisions was introduced in 2000. The pros have been manifest: the quasi-Test intensity of Division One. So too the cons: the acceptance of Division Two status by less affluent counties who prioritise white-ball formats. Neither Glamorgan nor Gloucestershire have been in Division One for a decade.
You must be logged on to see external links
, Martyn Moxon. He is a member of the Working Group under the chairmanship of Leicestershire’s CEO, Wasim Khan, and his plan has met little opposition, certainly by comparison with the ECB’s announcement of the 100-ball format. While the whole structure of county cricket is up for review by the Working Group, the introduction of the fourth format is not.“If we want to protect red-ball cricket, and keep the 18 counties interested in playing red-ball cricket, we’ve got to do something different to what we are currently doing,” Moxon said before the meeting.
“And if there’s a desire to produce England-qualified cricketers, I think it’s generally agreed - certainly among coaches around the country - the current system isn’t going to allow that to happen, because it produces short-term thinking. If two of the eight teams in the first division are relegated, it’s all about winning now. So a lot of decisions are short-term and the recruitment of ready-made players to make sure you stay in the first division is not helping the production of England-qualified cricketers.”
“If we want to protect red-ball cricket, and keep the 18 counties interested in playing red-ball cricket, we’ve got to do something different to what we are currently doing,” Moxon said before the meeting.
“And if there’s a desire to produce England-qualified cricketers, I think it’s generally agreed - certainly among coaches around the country - the current system isn’t going to allow that to happen, because it produces short-term thinking. If two of the eight teams in the first division are relegated, it’s all about winning now. So a lot of decisions are short-term and the recruitment of ready-made players to make sure you stay in the first division is not helping the production of England-qualified cricketers.”
“The majority of coaches felt the Conference system would ignite the interest of the whole 18 counties, and the point was made that for second division clubs to get better they have to play against first division clubs more often,” Moxon added. “That every county would have the chance every year of winning the county championship appeals to a lot of people.”
“The other thing we haven’t mentioned is the movement of players. It’s now perceived that you have to be in the first division. Any second division county that does a good job with a player, they can’t keep hold of him, because the first division is a lure, so they are in a cycle of defeat, aren’t they?”
Moxon has proposed three conferences of six counties each: they would play each other twice each, home and away, in early season. Then the top two counties in each conference would go into the first division in the latter part of the season, with each county playing the other five once. The third and fourth counties in each conference would go into the second division, fifth and six into the third. Each county therefore has 15 games per season.
The devil will lie in the details to be discussed in the coming months. I would be in favour of the 10 games in the Conferences being scheduled for three days. Many championship matches in April and early May end in three days because conditions favour pace bowlers. Yes, the batsmen need to be encouraged to “bat time”, to survive at the crease all day, but that can still be done in a hard-fought battle for first innings lead in a drawn game eg ten points for a lead, 20 for a win, and no bonus points.
Then there would be room in the second half of the season for the matches in August and September to be extended from five to ten in each division, home and away, as four-day games. Two separate first-class competitions, one for each part of the summer, bookending the three white-ball formats: no system is perfect but it could come closer to being the best of all championship worlds.
