Malc wrote:

I’ve got 15 signatures at the game today.

Nice one Malc. Looks like they took notice of the growing surge of resentment at this.

https://beingoutsidecricket.com/2022/08/29/lies-damn-lies-and-high-performance-reviews/

Well worth a look at this excellent analysis of the analysis presented by the strauss review

We can only hope the county ceo's when presented with this also have their bullshit detectors on before waving this through

Members will be armed with this stuff at the upcoming forums certainly and the conclusion to the analysis is damning

All in all, the report is almost entirely without merit. How it took three months or more to come to this point when the data used in the charts would take an A Level Statistics student about a day to compile and the resulting ‘evidence’ is a mess of conflicting numbers which don’t really suggest any clear ‘solution’ to the problems at hand. As worthless a use of time and money as I can imagine, in all honesty. A fitting tribute to the end of the Tom Harrison era at the ECB.

County chairs take note

Scary to think our CEO might even see merit in this and vote for Warwickshire to become a feeder county. Now we know why we need this SGM calling just in case they're so stupid as to vote this through.

Revealed: Andrew Strauss wants ‘feeder leagues’ as counties fight reform plans
Exclusive: Plan features six-team Premier Division, two lower leagues and play-offs to resolve promotion, relegation and overall champion

Nick Hoult,
CHIEF CRICKET CORRESPONDENT
5 September 2022 • 7:51pm

The new look County Championship proposed by Sir Andrew Strauss will include a six-team Premier Division with two feeder leagues of six underneath competing for a promotional play-off, it can be revealed, but reluctant chairmen are fighting against the plans.

All counties will play at least 10 four-day matches as part of the proposals from Strauss’ high performance review in what would be one of the biggest shake-ups of the English county system in its history.

Teams will play each other home and away with the potential for play-offs to decide the champions in the Premier Division. The winners of the two conferences will play off to decide which of them is promoted to the top flight, with one up, one down proposed.

The 50-over competition will be played in April, the Blast from May onwards, the Hundred in August and the championship mainly in June, July and September, the prime months of the summer instead of being played in early April and the end of September as it is now.

There is also a proposal to play three slots of four-day cricket in August, like festival weeks, that sit outside the championship so counties could still play 14 red-ball games (if they reach the play-off). These will take place during the Hundred, giving Test players some red-ball cricket if needed, as well as those without Hundred contracts. It would also provide members with more four-day cricket with the possibility of inviting teams such as Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Scotland to take part and raise the standard in those countries too.

Strauss is fighting to persuade reluctant counties to accept the idea which needs 12 votes in favour for the change to go through. A ballot of the counties is pencilled in for Sept 20 and intense lobbying is ongoing.

Strauss and members of the high performance review have spent the past couple of weeks meeting counties to outline a vision for domestic cricket from 2024 onwards.

It is understood there is reluctance from some county chairmen to agree to a reduction in four-day championship cricket which is popular with members. The members own 15 of the 18 counties.

Strauss will present the findings of his discussions with the counties to the ECB board on Wednesday, which will be chaired for the first time by Richard Thompson at the start of his five-year term as the board’s new chairman.

Data released recently by the ECB shows English players play 79 days of domestic cricket, which is more than any other country and leaves them with less time to prepare and rest when compared with other nations. It also leaves less time to prepare good pitches which in turn makes the step up to Test level harder.

The ECB’s data discovered that averages for English batsmen drop off significantly in Test cricket compared with county cricket whereas for India, Australia and South Africa there is little difference in comparison. Averages for seamers are also much higher in Test cricket compared with county cricket because they are used to helpful pitches in the championship.

The high performance review was launched after the Ashes defeat and years of underachievement by England’s Test team.

This sounds horrific. What are these random red ball games to be be played outside of the CC in August all about?!

County members want to see 'Competitive' 4-day cricket, not some games that players just coast through to so as not to injure themselves or games where they really cannot be bothered as nothing is riding on it. I would sooner, Strauss got a team to thrash out a new proposed format rather than sit down and think "Now this is what I want so I will propose it and tell the counties that this is the best thing for the game".

If this board representing Warwickshire votes - as we fear it might - in favour of Strauss proposals there's a very real possibility our chances of ever winning the county championship again will be finished.

Relegation a distinct possibility this year and 2023 will be spent in division two there's likely to be no promotion as they'd want 4 down none up to make their ridiculously tiny division of six. From 2024 onwards it'd be one promotion place each season out of 12 counties in the bottom feeder divisions. There's a very real possibility Warwickshire might spend a decade or more sloshing about in such a feral league.

I don't like the idea of a 6 team division 1 & I'd drop my membership if it happened as I wouldn't get to many games. But at least it would give the competition some much needed competitive integrity with each team playing the others twice. The parallel feeder divisions is an obviously stupid idea only there to try and get the vote of the rubbish counties who don't want to be stuck in division 3. Similarly friendlies in August.

On balance I don't see the change having a big impact on the performance of England men's teams. Reducing the number of games probably harms the Test team - but only a bit & all players being eligible for the 50 over competition probably helps ODI performance, but only a bit. In the circumstances hard to see why bother.

Most important to me is that Warwickshire should vote on the basis of what the Members want. It's too important to be decided on by people with a rugby background - who didn't watch county cricket before they came to Warwickshire and won't watch it once they've moved onto something else. If they can't appreciate they have roles in a membership organisation they need to go.

Thought this was an insightful read on the Middlesex forum this morning;

Facts and logic say that Strauss' latest threat is ridiculous.

A good player developed or spotted by a county gets awarded a contract of - say - 2 years' duration minimum. Maybe 3.

He and any other player under a term contract ain't going anywhere for that period unless the "super league franchise" buys the player out. Players are currently contracted for a 12 month period, not the April to September ones of yore.

The Strauss dream of "best playing best" also fails to acknowledge the reality that both player and employer like stability, so each knows where the other will be for the duration of the employment contract.

Each county is at a certain stage of the curve - either declining, advancing or treading water, and will have players both at similar stages, and at varying lengths of commitment to their current employer.

Unless the Strauss dream envisages buying e.g. Sam, playing for Div 2 Middlesex, out of his current contract to enable him to play for a top division team, and face a bought out Matthew Potts playing for another top tier team, which will cost more money, and - effectively - see even more central contracts by default, "best playing the best" is just straight fantasy.

A few years ago, the edict was that you couldn't play for England unless you were in Div 1. I think no one bothered to tell Alastair Cook, or even Strauss, let alone enforce that. So, this dream has come and gone before.

I wonder how long it will be before Strauss remembers his family, and decides he needs to spend more time with them.

Another insightful post here this time on the Yorkshire forum earlier

These circus T20 events are going to lure freelance cricketers regardless of the shape or composition of the county championship so cuts to it won't have any positive impact with that regard

Strauss really is a piece of work, isn't he. Patronising and insulting people as self-interested if they disagree with him, a man for whom self-interest is a way of life. Feigning regret that he is constrained against changing the 100. The counties, again slow off the mark, should never have let him run the review. He has a personal interest in the outcome apart from anything else.

This media appearance and newspaper text is just rather crude negotiation conditioning and pressuring. And, as people have mentioned, contains muddled thinking. If there are pretty much 365 days a year global t20 leagues then that is a de facto split in the game. What he says is superficially plausible, but I am not sure how his plan works in that 365 t20 world any better than any other plan that involves significant CC, test and 50 over cricket.

He seems to be (probably deliberately - because of course he is cleverer than us) conflating the issues of performance standards and top player availability/enthusiasm for CC, test and 50. The CC, 50 and 20 over competitions should just plan to get on without them as this is going to happen anyway according to him.

Don't contort the domestic game just so we can see Dawid Malan bat once or twice a season.

Edit for the benefit of a WCCC committee member who might be reading this;

"Don't contort the domestic game just so we can see Chris Woakes bat/bowl one or twice a season"

I would have thought the bigger issue is the potential for the top players to choose global t20 over home and away tests. Test cricket is very likely going to have to get on without many top players as well. Mr Strauss is right to say that there is a global revolution going on. But his plan is, ironically, a doomed attempt to hold on to the past. There should be a formal split, with players of course able to move to the global t20 circus if they get the chance.