County chiefs back change in structure

The majority of county chiefs are in favour of making changes to the current promotion and relegation system, according to a poll in the latest edition of The Wisden Cricketer magazine. The survey confirmed that 13 of the 18 counties wanted to see two teams go up and down from each season rather than three.

A change to this structure is expected to form part of the recommendations of the ECB's Domestic Structure Review Group (DSRG), which is due to publish a report this July. However, any changes would be unlikely to come into effect until 2006.

"Three sides going down is the equivalent of seven teams in football's Premiership and that's too many," Jim Cumbes, Lancashire's chief executive told the magazine. John Scopes, Northamptonshire's chairman, agreed, saying, "It's a bit of a lottery. It only takes a couple of injuries and a bit of bad luck with the weather to finish seventh." Paul Sheldon at Surrey added: "Three-up, three-down is too many. More important is that we listen to current players rather than former players about playing too much - and a unified voice says we do."

Another who had his say was Tom Richardson, Gloucestershire's chief executive, who said the two-up, two-down was the way ahead: "I don't think we should be cautious about change, but we need to look at it in the round. Two divisions works. It adds to the focus, the competitive nature." Gloucestershire were one of the three teams to have been promoted to Division One last season, meaning that every county has been in the top division at some stage.

Restructuring the system has been high on English cricket's agenda since the end of last season with numerous plans being put forward. The Cricket Reformation Group, headed by Bob Willis, a former England captain, believes 12 of the 18 counties should go part-time, with the national side being drawn from 120 professionals divided up between the six full-time clubs. While Matthew Engel, editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Alamanack, proposed a merger of the Championship and the National League into a single competition.