The ECB management committee (three words to send even the worst insomnia sufferer into a coma) have made a seemingly common sense decision with regard to the fixture schedule for 2012.
The County Championship will remain 2 divisions of 9 teams with 16 games. The T20 group games will be reduced from 16 this season to 10 next season.
The haven’t made any decisions about the Clydesdale competition. It’s interesting they didn’t use the words CB40 seemingly leaving the door open for this to be a 50 over rather than a 40 over comp. I’m not holding my breathe on that one though.
The decision does look like the ECB have pretty much shunned any involvement by English clubs in the Champions league because the timings of the season would not allow for that. On balance, I think this is sensible. We cannot have our domestic competitions dictated to by a competition that we aren’t even partners in.
Whilst today’s decision has been met with a sigh of relief from most quarters, not everyone is happy. A small minority of counties actually made money from the increased number of T20 group matches (eg Kent, Somerset). The Kent CEO has “expressed his disappointment” at the decision. I’m afraid that’s just tough titties. The majority of counties (and supporters) wanted the CCC to stay the same and there to be fewer T20 games. For once the majority rather than the noisy minority seem to have got their way.
I do have sympathy for the plight of the smaller counties – the ones who can’t make money from internationals but I’m afraid they, like all of us, have to learn to cut our cloth appropriately and when I hear stories of Kent’s ridiculously large wage bill (which didn’t translate into on pitch results – they were relegated) my sympathy diminishes a little.
So hurrah to the ECB – credit where it’s due. A sensible decision. Words I never thought I’d type.
