How to help fix English Cricket

There's always talk about things being broken in English cricket and power struggles up and down the sport so I thought I would throw my ideas out there.

On the Women’s side

There has been a great push for Women’s Cricket over the past 4 years and with the collapse against Australia in the Test Match as well as the discussions around pay between the Men’s and the Women’s game I thought about how do you go about increasing participation and performance levels even further and how compensation should be given.

Structure

The Women’s domestic game is sorted into regions as well as the traditional Counties underneath so professionalism has to be focussed on the regions to start with and then this can trickle down to the counties afterwards.

Currently they have the Charlotte Edwards Cup and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy both of which are Limited Overs competitions and there is no current Multi-Day Red Ball Cricket.

I would introduce a 3 day First Class Red Ball competition between the 8 regions with 14 games a season (play each other twice once at home, once away). This would allow for a better workload and practice for Test Matches which draw grounds as was seen at Trent Bridge. The WPL being before the English Season can start gives a great platform as all players will be available.

I have created a mock schedule with the RHFT, CEC a 3 Day Championship and The Hundred all present. This runs over 26 weeks which is the first week in April to the Last week the September but most seasons could be extended into mid-October based on the weather patterns so this could all be shifted or less congestion could be used.

All Regions will be given a Salary Cap as well as being allowed 2 Overseas Players who do not count towards this Salary Cap.

This is done to ensure competitiveness as well as keeping the competitions from ballooning in budget as most of the regions funding comes from the ECB. As the system grows the ECB shall increase the Salary Cap. Television Rights must be given to a FTA broadcaster as well as the Regions controlling the rights for non-televised Home matches, they can do what they like with them.

As for England duties and Central Contracts, Players on Central Contracts retain their previous salary towards the cap.

Encouraging Players from non Private backgrounds

As part of the commitment to make the game more equitable is a system to tackle the elitism which still bubbles in the sport so introducing a fund which is split based of game time of player under 27 who do not have a private education. This can work for both the Men’s and the Women’s game and it is to encourage the development and playing time of those from less advantaged backgrounds.

We can’t cut a group down as that harms the game in the short term and doesn’t fix the issue in the long term so it has to be done by raising other groups up. Also a system like this might grant more opportunities from those in the grassroots game rather than just those from advantaged backgrounds. This would also encourage a diversity which is more in line with the grassroots game in the professional game which we want.

On the Men’s Side

The Men’s game has felt in limbo recently with the concentration of power and performance to a few counties with a financial advantage through hosting Test Match Cricket and the revenue from that. How can this be addressed to drive performance while also equalising opportunities?

Structure

The Men’s game is sorted into Traditional Counties where many are Member-owned clubs which is good as fans can become an active voice within the organisation but the demographics have lead to stagnation of this as members ask for the “Good Old Days” which weren’t that good to begin with. Tradition shouldn’t be side-lined needlessly but it also shouldn’t hamper progress. I would implement a 50+1 rule as that would allow the counties to look at private investment while members still retaining control of the club overall.

There is a real issue of trying to fit 4 competitions into the 28 week season with the 4 day County Championship as well as the money spinner of the T20 Blast and then the Hundred which side-lined the One Day Cup.

The Men’s LOI team are double world champions so something worked to develop these players to reach these highest and I believe it was the Pro40 which asked players to attack but also put a value on their wicket at the same time. Striking a balance for the best players to step up to international level.

The County Championship however has failed to produce adequate Test match players through being pushed to the extremes of the season as well as the fact that players feel they can only be selected internationally if they play for a Division 1 county.

As such I propose scrapping the 2 divisions and have a singular division with 17 games a season so you play all the other teams once so everyone faces a mixture of top teams and developing teams allowing for better player development and opportunities. Each team would have either 8 or 9 home games per season which is an improvement on the current amount.

I would also propose that for every year a player has been on the County Staff between 18 and 26 a compensation fee of £50,000 is due. This can be negotiated between counties and players but this is the fall-back line for all.

The T20 Blast would be defined to line up with the school summer holidays and with the schedule the T20 competition block can be shifted around moving late season championship games before it so it can line up.

The Hundred would be scrapped as it doesn’t provide value to the Men’s game whatsoever and the success of the Women’s Ashes means a Women’s only competition can be successful if given proper marketing.

TV Money

I would split the Domestic Rights package from the International package as this would allow the less valuable Domestic rights to be used for Grassroots growth of the game by having it air on Free to Air TV.

Dedicated marketing for the T20 Blast would also drive attendances of these matches as well as club loyalty which would drive attendances and membership for the other formats.

International Match Money

I would change the nature of granting international matches from the current system of where all concession money is kept by the county and have it so the ECB pays a hiring fee for the venue and then they keep all ticket, hospitality and concession money. This would promote equality of funds as no county can have a significant advantage over another. I would also define that a venue can only host 1 Test match per year as there are currently 9 (The Oval, Lord’s, Rose Bowl, Edgbaston, Cardiff, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Headingly and the Riverside) Test capable grounds, although Cardiff agreed not to compete and have LOI matches instead.

This would help the game be even more equitable and while the Riverside hasn’t managed a Test match since 2016 as it was being undermined by the then Yorkshire CEO Colin Graves. While Lord’s hosts 2 Test Matches a Summer. Defining 8 Test Matches per Summer would be optimal as it allows for a 5 and a 3 match series if there is a big series while allowing for 2 4 match series’ if there isn’t a big one that summer.

2nd XI opportunities

Currently the 2nd XI is an afterthought but it could be used quite well to promote movement of players from the grassroots level to the Professional level as seen with the roaring success of the SACA. I propose that any other cricketing organisation dedicated to moving players from the Grassroots level to the Professional level should be granted entry to 2nd XI events to allow for the professional game to evaluate them in person and against known oppositions.

County Club Equity Boards

I would also have all County Cricket Associations have equity boards to ensure that all clubs behave in a fair and equitable manner when dealing with players of all types to help avoid players being outcast at lower levels of the game as well a clique’s, bulling and discrimination to occur. This is essential as the pathway for the vast majority of cricketers should start at clubs around the country.

International Calendar

With Franchise leagues taking over it seems there has to be concessions with most international teams although England Women continue to grow and draw more of an audience with not as many franchise leagues around for them yet their calendar can be more full and with a greater focus on the White Ball game their calendar reflects that.

This would give 2 Test matches per summer (pending other teams wanting to play). Give an exclusive window for the Women’s Hundred,

The Men’s game as lots of franchise leagues all jockeying over players and the top talent but Test matches fill stadiums and people struggle for tickets. This has to be balanced with the White Ball game with World Cups always drawing interest. I have created an 8 test summer which would be 4+4 most of the time except when either India or Australia tour when it would be 5+3 so all series would be of a suitable length and this format also allows the obligations of the World Test Championship to be fullfilled. If England qualify for the WTC final then it would be 1 test slot for that, a 2 test series vs a non WTC full member (usually Ireland) and the the 5 test series of the Ashes as seems to be the plan currently. The ODI super league was killed by the ICC and CA as it actually allowed small teams chances but the 2 series a summer over a full 4 year cycle would allow 8 home series to be staged and a gap should any Home series or a series against another European side away need to be played.

This should always allow series to be threaded in and is subject to reshuffling should a Summer tournament exist.

Development Calendars

To back any successful side has to be a focus on player development and the Lions program provides that. Although during the summer the program is threadbare sue to domestic matches being played. I would also propose to the other European boards for a European T20 Cup to be played with the Lions competing. These would only have T20 status not T20i status but that only matters in the eyes of statisticians and not the general viewing public which you are trying to involve across the continent. The time slot I have given the tournament only clashes with County Championship matches so any specialist players should be available and this is only development for the England side.

For the Women’s development calendar it might be much more difficult to arrange fixtures due to the nature of other Women’s teams but I have tried to create one which allows for younger prospects to show their talent

There might be the possibility for a European Cup in the future but with the state of Women’s cricket across the continent the ability to organise this might be difficult to impossible at present.

All of the Calendar’s could be changed but the most important thing for English Cricket is to increase it’s domestic reach which requires splitting the TV Rights into several packages with Domestic and International Rights sold separately and some packages ringfenced for Free-To-Air TV companies as they will help grow the game. Although I would also use a revamped media strategy allowing more fans to create Transformative content and increase the reach even more as there is more value in the archive being out there than hidden away gathering dust.