Reform Group set to meet with ECB

The Cricket Reform Group, the collection of former players and enthusiasts who announced at the end of the summer their belief that English cricket needed revolution rather than reform, is set to meet with the England & Wales Cricket Board next week to discuss its proposals for the future of the game.

The CRG are headed by Michael Atherton, and include another former England captain, Bob Willis, as well as the journalist Michael Parkinson, businessman Nigel Wray, and Willis's brother David.

The CRG's proposals are nothing if not radical, calling for a dramatic reduction in the number of counties (and with it professionals) as the most visible measure of a plan which aims to revamp the game at every level. The original manifesto had the feel of being the result of a long lunch during the Oval Test - it was presented on a single sheet of A4 paper. By the time of next week's meeting the CRG will have prepared a far more detailed document.

"Our manifesto for change is now in its final stages," David Willis told the Independent on Sunday. "Michael Atherton has undertaken discussions with a whole range of people in the game, and a number of very important people as well as players."

Not too much is known about the detail of the CRG's plan, but it will include a reduction in the amount of first-class cricket, an end to Minor Counties cricket, and more emphasis on the top tiers of club cricket.

John Carr, the ECB's deputy chief executive and one of those who will attend the meeting, was keen to underline that while new proposals were always welcome, there was much to be commended with the game as it is. "Of course we will be taking them [the CRG] seriously. We have to achieve a balance between being prepared to be honest and review our procedures, and reinforcing the fact that there is a lot that is good about the game at the moment. If there has been some concern about what the CRG have said, it is that."

The CRG's founders don't see the meeting with the ECB as the end of their attempts at radical reform, rather the beginning. Whatever the outcome, they will continue their fight for change, and if the ECB are not wholly enthusiastic then the CRG hope that they can win support by going directly to the public. This one will run and run.