Reform Group backs call for domestic restructuring

If the timing of Lord MacLaurin's remarks regarding the future of English cricket last week was designed to kick-start a debate on the subject, then it has done exactly as intended.

On Thursday, MacLaurin told the BBC that to survive English cricket had to consider reducing the number of first-class counties from 18 to 12 and, as a result, decrease the number of professionals in the game by about 100. He warned that with the next television deal likely to produce far less income than the current one, the alternative was for cricket to become a minor summer sport "like croquet". Several of the county chairmen spluttered on cue, although the biggest reaction came from the world of croquet who were livid at the perceived slight.

But the idea was in the public domain, and in the four days since it has been the subject of considerable discussion. At the forefront is the Reform Group, a loose collection consisting of two former England captains - Michael Atherton and Bob Willis - Michael Parkinson, David Willis (Bob's brother), and Nigel Wray, the multi-millionaire owner of the Saracens Rugby Football Club. Over the weekend the Reform Group published an open letter outlining a four-point plan to safeguard the future of the game. They said they were responding to "England's performances against South Africa" and supporting MacLaurin's comments. Their proposals were:

1. An end to the First-Class Forum (made up of the first-class counties) which wields considerable power within the game, and its replacement by a streamlined management board responsible for all aspects of the game without the vested interest that the existing forum has.

2: A reduction in the number of first-class teams to improve the quality of domestic cricket being played.

3. A de-professionalisation of parts of the county game, allied to the establishment of a properly organised and financed county-based Premier League system.

4. The creation of a true pyramid structure which allows non-professionals the chance to progress into the higher levels of the game. This would also create closer links between the professional and amateur competition.

Mike Soper, chairman of the First-Class Forum, gave the proposal a mixed response. "I don't agree with half of what the group has said. Some of it makes sense. You don't just look at a piece of paper and agree with everything written on it, similarly you don't dismiss it either."

But Soper did support the view that change was needed. "The ECB was formed six years ago, I think it is now time that we started looking at the whole constitution again. I don't think the First-Class Forum will ever relinquish its power, until they are happy that the governing body and the executive can deliver.

"I don't agree that there should be a reduction in the number of professional counties, but I do think Second XIs should be scrapped, and perhaps replaced with an amateur U-19 competition. If you got rid of half-a-dozen players from the 18 counties, reducing squads to 16 or 17 full-time professionals, then that will save around 100 players."