County cricketers think that less is more, and they are willing to play fewer games overall in order to ensure that the country’s finest players compete in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
These are some of the key findings of extensive discussions between the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) and current players as part of the ECB’s high-performance review into men’s domestic cricket, which is being led by Andrew Strauss in the aftermath of England’s one-win streak in their last 17 Tests.
The two primary compromises that have been reached are that the overall volume of cricket played should be reduced in order to enhance the timetable and that players may be required to transition between formats more often rather than in ‘blocks.’
After scrutinising and consulting with players on its pre-season visit to all 18 county grounds, the PCA is currently producing the third version of its internal domestic review document.
While some counties, particularly those that do not host games in the Hundred, are unlikely to endorse the concept of shortening the fixture list, players and coaches are growing concerned that the current schedule is unsustainable, especially for fast bowlers.
Matthew Fisher, the Yorkshire seamer who made his Test debut in Barbados, has been diagnosed with a “stress reaction” that will keep him out for four weeks, putting him in doubt for the first Test of the summer against New Zealand.
In the PCA’s journal Beyond the Boundaries, Sam Cook, the captain of Essex’s fast-bowling attack, suggested that the existing schedule is “putting players and ground staff under insane levels of pressure” and advocated for a reduction in the total volume of games.
“That may come as a surprise to supporters and members,” he remarked. “However, reducing the number of Championship games would allow for higher-quality games with greater meaning attached to each one.”
Because the Royal London One-Day Cup runs concurrently with the Hundred, the majority of England’s greatest limited-overs players have not played a domestic 50-over match since before the 2019 World Cup. With a World Cup to be held in India in late 2023, there is a universal consensus that players should be able to play the format outside of ODIs.
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