Marcus Hook’s Surrey CCC column: ECB at fault for domestic schedule

With members at a number of counties making it clear to their clubs that any reduction to the County Championship schedule should be opposed, the England and Wales Cricket Board has put back the intended vote on the proposals in its High Performance Review – prompted by last winter’s dismal Ashes campaign – until this time next year.

As any change to the number of fixtures and the make-up of the championship’s structure requires a two-thirds majority of 12 or more of the 18 first-class counties, one suspects the can has been kicked down the road because the ECB didn’t think its proposals would get the thumbs up.

The review concluded not only is there too much county cricket, it’s also played at the wrong times.

Those who work during the week will concur with the latter.

On August Bank Holiday Monday there were just three games – the Trent Rockets v Welsh Fire double-header in The Hundred, at Nottingham, and day two of England’s U19s versus Sri Lanka’s U19s at Derby.

An opportunity missed was the decision to stage the semi-finals of the Royal London Cup the following day, Tuesday 30, when many supporters would be back at work.

There’s also the general lack of weekend cricket.

Not a single day of the last four rounds of the County Championship take in a Saturday or a Sunday.

As for the players, more than half of the Surrey side likely to line-up against Northants next week have not seen any action for 45 days.

When the ECB says cricket isn’t played at the optimum time, to allow players time to rest between matches and also work on aspects of their game, just remember who sets the domestic schedule – that’s right, the ECB.

The single biggest obstacle to a balanced fixture list is The Hundred, to which the ECB is so wedded.

The High Performance Review was adamant the tournament should continue to be staged throughout August, even though the HPR also called for the return of championship cricket in August.

The Hundred is inked in, due to TV deals, until 2028, so it seems the only thing that will change the landscape is competing franchise tournaments – more of which are springing up all the time.

Money talks and if a new one, that pays more, coincided with The Hundred (the salaries for which range from £30k to £125k), it would be interesting to see where the players’ loyalties would lie.