The future of County Cricket

[Alviro Patterson]

FFS!!!!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cric ... 21343.html

Cricket season extended into March, spin bowlers getting overs under their belt from the off, but most importantly the County Championship remains at 16 matches. Get those matches televised or streamed live and I can only think of it as a positive.

[Aidan11]

FFS!!!!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cric ... 21343.html

Cricket season extended into March, spin bowlers getting overs under their belt from the off, but most importantly the County Championship remains at 16 matches. Get those matches televised or streamed live and I can only think of it as a positive.

I'd rather they held the group stage of the 50 over tournament overseas then the 16 game CC will remain fully at home. The whole issue of the reduced CC is that spectators will have one less home game to go to. If they hold a couple of games overseas then we'd be in a similar situation.

[Alviro Patterson]

FFS!!!!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cric ... 21343.html

Cricket season extended into March, spin bowlers getting overs under their belt from the off, but most importantly the County Championship remains at 16 matches. Get those matches televised or streamed live and I can only think of it as a positive.

I'd rather they held the group stage of the 50 over tournament overseas then the 16 game CC will remain fully at home. The whole issue of the reduced CC is that spectators will have one less home game to go to. If they hold a couple of games overseas then we'd be in a similar situation.

Moving the 50 over group stage tournament overseas means 4 less home games for spectators to attend. One Day cricket still attracts the crowds and non test counties who are not good at red ball cricket are more likely to lose out in terms of reduced memberships and gate money. Also the future of outground cricket is put into doubt as one day cricket forms a vital part of attracting spectators.

County Championship cricket does not attract spectators and moving games Sunday-Wednesday is proof. I'd rather attend a one day game on a Sunday where a result is decided on that day.

[Alviro Patterson]

ECB have announced a number of changes to the County Cricket structure, to take effect from 2017.

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/ecb- ... ounty-game

County Championship to be 8 teams in Division 1 and 10 teams in Division 2, playing 14 matches. For this year, it's 2 down/1 up before reverting to 2 up/2 down.

Royal London Cup group stage matches to be played in April and May with the Final in July. Group winners go straight to the semi-finals, 2nd and 3rd play in a Quarter-Final.

Natwest T20 Blast to be played in two blocks during July and August.


A bit of a shame that the County Championship is trimmed to 14 games, but on balance the changes look good and are sure to improve the overall standard of County Cricket. Hope that a number of Royal London Cup matches are played on a Sunday or Bank Holiday.

[Aidan11]

I have been against this from the start.

The CC will now be unbalanced with one home game taken away from them. There was nothing wrong with the CC but in pursuit of the Golden Egg that is T20 cricket, the genuine die-hard members are being shafted in favour of the casual spectator.

It was bound to happen so let's see if the ECB are right. Only time will tell.

[Alviro Patterson]

A very fine article on how it's acceptable for County Cricket to be unique from other domestic competitions.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cric ... 95917.html

One particular point raised is having T20 during the school break to attract a family based audience, might be flawed because families have a tendency to go on holiday anyway. Speaking from experience it is difficult to raise a team for club/social cricket during the summer break for that reason.

[Aidan11]

Another damning piece on the future of county cricket...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... realities/


Money from T20 is all well and good but what happens when the bubble bursts?

[hopeforthebest]

The Tory government are busy imposing changes on the population and the ECB are following suit with their spokesman Andrew Strauss who briefly considered standing for Parliament as a Tory. Great minds think alike.

[Aidan11]

This is interesting....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... -counties/


Looks like the franchise T20 is on the back burner for now.

[captaincolly]

This is interesting....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... -counties/


Looks like the franchise T20 is on the back burner for now.

Good that the ECB are going to give the counties some much needed cash - no need at all for the ECB to have 70 million as a contingency fund.

[Aidan11]

This is interesting....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... -counties/


Looks like the franchise T20 is on the back burner for now.

Good that the ECB are going to give the counties some much needed cash - no need at all for the ECB to have 70 million as a contingency fund.

This is what annoys me. The ECB are sitting on a large pile of cash which is supposed to go back into cricket. I know some of the counties brought their financial troubles on themselves but some got into trouble trying to upgrade their grounds to meet ECB requirements for international cricket.

They can't have it both ways. T20 wont come to the rescue. Counties need help.

[captaincolly]

This is interesting....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... -counties/


Looks like the franchise T20 is on the back burner for now.

Good that the ECB are going to give the counties some much needed cash - no need at all for the ECB to have 70 million as a contingency fund.

This is what annoys me. The ECB are sitting on a large pile of cash which is supposed to go back into cricket. I know some of the counties brought their financial troubles on themselves but some got into trouble trying to upgrade their grounds to meet ECB requirements for international cricket.

They can't have it both ways. T20 wont come to the rescue. Counties need help.

Yes, I bet most of the debts at international grounds are down to ground development.

[westoelad]

Conflicting article by Dobell on ESPN.

At a glance ECB expenditure

Turnover: £134m (£174.7m in 2014-15)
Reserves: £73.106m (£70.039m)
Community expenditure: £21m (£24.2 m)
Professional game expenditure: £48.4m (£63.8m)
England teams expenditure: £30.6m (£27.5m in 2014-15)
Support expenditure (governing body plus administration): £14.1m (£12.4m).


1st class grants cut from £64m to £48m according to him.

Reserves may be excessive but admin. expenses at £14.1m, up 15%, seems obscene.

[captaincolly]

Conflicting article by Dobell on ESPN.

At a glance ECB expenditure

Turnover: £134m (£174.7m in 2014-15)
Reserves: £73.106m (£70.039m)
Community expenditure: £21m (£24.2 m)
Professional game expenditure: £48.4m (£63.8m)
England teams expenditure: £30.6m (£27.5m in 2014-15)
Support expenditure (governing body plus administration): £14.1m (£12.4m).


1st class grants cut from £64m to £48m according to him.

Reserves may be excessive but admin. expenses at £14.1m, up 15%, seems obscene.

Yes, seems a ridiculously high expense figure.

[Durhamfootman]

they all want to be politicians, seemingly, and they're getting some practice in

probably Capt Cnut... he wants to be a politician.... maybe he had a delapidated duck house, or his moat needed dredging