England: Counties embrace change (15 October 1998)

15 October 1998

England: Counties embrace change

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

THE 18 first-class counties and MCC willingly gave way to the clamour for new ideas and the need for more money when they agreed yesterday to make radical changes to professional cricket in England and Wales. From the year 2000 there will be more international cricket, England players will be contracted to the board, a two-division championship is probable and an early-season regional tournament is being considered.

Bowing in particular to pressure from the marketing department of the England and Wales Cricket Board, especially to the perceived need for as lucrative a television deal as possible, the counties accepted a huge hike in the volume of international cricket in home seasons. From there it was a natural step towards England contracts, although the detail of how they will operate and the degree to which England players will still be available to their counties still has to be worked out.

As first disclosed in Electronic Telegraph, the ECB wanted seven Tests and 10 one-day internationals from 2000 to maximise television income and that programme was endorsed by the counties at the two-day meeting of the First Class Forum which ended at a London hotel yesterday with the ECB's chief executive, Tim Lamb, hailing "the most productive meeting in my 14 years as an administrator".

It was certainly unusually decisive, although whether the counties realise the likely effect on their own attendances of an overegging of the international pudding is questionable.

A working party on the distribution of central finances to the counties will report to the next meeting of the forum in early December but David Morgan, the FCF chairman, said: "There was a real sense of the need for change. The excellent presentations from the ECB executives [notably Jon Carr on cricket options and Cliff Barker on their financial consequences] gave us a full picture of the state of the game and the options available to us."

Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the ECB and of England's main sponsors, Vodafone, said: "This was a significant two days for cricket in this country. We have embraced the need for change and had a lively and healthy debate about the way forward."

Domestic cricket was agreed. A 16-match National League will be played over the compromise number of 45 overs from next season and all NatWest Trophy matches will be limited to 50 overs a side instead of 60 to ensure that at least one competition is played to the same rules as are now standardised in one-day internationals.

Forty-five overs has proved a successful duration in South Africa for many years and the 15-over fielding restrictions will be applied in National League matches, an increasing number of which are likely to be played under floodlights. Forty-five overs should also suit television companies and a newly sponsored league, replacing the AXA, will undoubtedly be covered on the small screen as part of the deal with the mixture of terrestial and satellite companies which will now be concluded "sooner rather than later".

No doubt anticipating criticism of the sudden trebling in the number of one-day internationals staged in England each season in the Texaco Cup years, Lamb said that the expansion of the home international programme was very important for broadcasters and added: "Television is by far the most effective way of promoting the game to the widest public - especially youngsters."

Ten internationals could mean that grounds at Cardiff, Chester-le-Street and Southampton will stage matches in future. However, it is at least three more than was necessary. In the annual triangular tournament which is now inevitable it will mean each side playing the other three times prior to a final but seven Tests a year, whether desirable or not, was a more understandable case of bowing to international pressure. Five-Test series against Australia, South Africa, the West Indies and possibly Pakistan or India are likely to be mixed with two games against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and possibly New Zealand.

The counties have to make a decision in December on what they want for their own domestic first-class cricket after 2000. The majority who expressed views after separating into discussion syndicates yesterday were in favour of two divisions from 2000, playing 16 games a season (home and away in their own division of nine) with three counties promoted and relegated each year.

The alternative proposed by the ECB, and one which has so far "found a modicum of favour" is to stick to a 17-match championship - after all, it was reasoned, the England players will miss the majority anyway - and combine it with an early-season tournament between six regions, each selected from three counties, as outlined in Electronic Telegraph yesterday.

Regional players would miss up to four of the 20 slots reserved for championship rounds but Carr said: "I think it would be of value at an important part of the season. Even if the weather interrupted it would mean the best England qualified players involved in good, competitive cricket before the international matches start and younger players would get a chance to make a mark in their county sides for the three or four matches in which regional players would be away."

Key Decisions

Seven Tests and 10 one-day internationals from 2000 onwards.

Agreement in principle that England squad should be contracted to the board.

45-over two-division National League in 1999 with three up and three down.

NatWest Trophy of 50 overs from 1999.

Further exploration of two-division County Championship and early-season regional cricket.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)