ECB announces reduction of domestic cricket

The structure of the County Championship has been preserved at the expense of Twenty20 cricket, after the ECB's Management Board agreed to reduce the Friends Provident t20 competition from 16 pool matches a season to 10 in a bid to cut back on the amount of domestic cricket being played from 2012 onwards.

The move comes in response to an unprecedented number of fixtures in 2010, in which a 151-match Twenty20 competition struggled to retain spectator interest in the face of a difficult economic climate, and competing sporting interests such as the football World Cup.

Fears that the County Championship, the bedrock of England's first-class game, would be culled to cope with the fixture overload proved unfounded. The current format will be retained, with two divisions of nine teams playing 16 matches a season.

"We are pleased to have agreed a range of measures today which we believe will be to the long term benefit of the County game in England and Wales," said the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke. "The changes to our domestic structure are the product of an extensive and rigorous consultation process which has encompassed Team England, County players and coaches, County members and other key stakeholders within our domestic game."

The initial rounds of the slimmed-down 20-over competition will be played in a dedicated "window" in June and July, with the knock-out phases remaining as per 2010, with quarter-finals followed by an end-of-season finals day at one of the major grounds.

In a press release, the ECB announced that a decision on the Clydesdale Bank competition, which is currently a 40-overs-a-side format, would be deferred until the next board meeting in May. There was a concern that the proposed addition of a quarter-final round could have left ten of the 18 counties with no guaranteed one-day cricket during August and September.

Two options are being considered. Four pools of five teams with a quarter-final, semi-final and final giving eight guaranteed matches, or the retention of the current structure of three pools of seven teams with semi-finals and final.

The Board reviewed proposals to enhance and support County Business operations and approved a four-year strategy to assist with the development and marketing of domestic cricket.

Following recommendations from the Major Match Group, the Board approved a comprehensive package of matches to be awarded to MCC for the period 2013-2016 inclusive. This will provide a total of 46 major match days at Lord's during the four-year period.