W Turrell: Raising Standards - McLaurin's report (5 Aug 1997)

"Raising the Standards"

William Turrell previews the initial implications of the MacLaurin report and looks at the effects it may have on English county cricket

Shortly before 4 o'clock on Tuesday 5th August 1997, the biggest ever changes in English County Cricket were announced by Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the ECB. The first-class counties have until September to decide whether to accept the proposals outlined in his report.

The blueprint for the future of English cricket, entitled "Raising the Standards" was handed to those present at this afternoon's press conference at Lord's in the form of a 33 page document, which, said MacLaurin, is designed to "create a framework which allows talented cricketers at every level to perform to their maximum potential and achieve the best results".

It will worry some people the way today's announcement has been made. The England team's encounter with Zimbabwean chicken farmer Eddo Brandes on January 3rd this year prompted a frantic discussion of the future of cricket in the UK and how consistent success could be achieved at Test match level. This frantic rush plus the fact the majority of the proposals of today's report were leaked in advance of the official announcement is unlikely to encourage confidence in the way the ECB is being run. However the English Cricket Board hopes people will carefully study the new proposals rather than simply brushing them aside as a short term solution, and believes they will raise standards in all areas of cricket from grass roots level to the England Test team.

The effect on the County Championship is that there will be the biggest changes ever made, in the championship's 197 year history it has never been split into divisions, but from next season there will be three groups of six teams. Each county will play the teams from the other two groups with play-offs in each division at the end of the season.

The Benson & Hedges Cup (granted a one-year reprieve whilst the government ban on tobacco advertising in sport is phased in) will remain, along with the 40 over Sunday League. However the structure of the Natwest Trophy, which has always been a 60 over competition, will be reduced to 50 overs a side with a Lord's final in August rather than September, a very sensible decision given how the early damp autumnal conditions can so influence the outcome of the game.

That's 1998. But what about 1999? In that year England will host the cricket world cup with each county acting as the base for a particular nation. From that season there will be a new national one day competition replacing the B&H Cup and Natwest Trophy - the format of which is yet to be announced.

The year 2000 holds perhaps the biggest change of all - all second XI cricket, which still receives a very good following around the country, will be scrapped. The alternative is a new 38 club county championship which is designed to encourage more amateurs to play cricket to a higher standard.

The initial reaction to the proposals from the first class counties seems positive with the vast majority of those asked agreeing a change is necessary. They have until September 15th (just 5 days before the end of the season) to say if they agree or not but it seems highly unlikely the report will be rejected completely.

I would suggest that a lot of club members who have watched championship cricket for many years will be annoyed at the change to three divisions, mainly because it will mean they no longer see their team play every other county once every 2 seasons, and also because it will result in a reduction to the total amount of cricket played.

The MacLaurin report also leaves many questions unanswered - as yet we do not know how the three divisions will be selected, whilst the delay in getting the county responses to the proposals will mean there is no way counties will be able to release provisional fixture lists until October or November at the earliest.

The changes will also mean that cricket statistics for the county championship will become very confused, even more so for the one-day competitions. We await the reaction of the Association of County Cricket Scorers, who have already threatened a strike on Sunday 31 August because of the poor treatment they believe they have received from the ECB with regard to the selection of the scorer for the England overseas tour.

"Raising the Standards" is a new start for English cricket at all levels - but only after its implementation can we measure its success. It's publication heralds much discussion over the coming weeks in cricket pavillions up and down the country - only seven weeks remain of the current English domestic season, a benchmark with which to judge the success of the new all-encompassing framework in 1998.