What would you do with the county system?

[Hampshire]

Hey guys , first thread in a while so thought I'd bring up a topic that seems to have been going around a lot recently , with all the counties complaining about loss of ticket sales/fixtures and all that stuff!

Ok , pretend you were put in charge of giving the current county system a makeover! You can keep what you want , change what you want and implement what you want! The T20 format seems to be under the most scrutiny recently , so I expect a lot of people would look to make big changes to that , perhaps to start our own large league such as the IPL? More overseas players in it? Do you keep the counties? Do the counties/cities keep their current players or are they all auctioned? Or is everything ok at the moment ?

So , what would you guys do . My ideas will come out when I have more time later .

[Arthur Crabtree]

I always like the idea of a step up between county and international level. I suppose that time allocation got swallowed up by T20, and the need by the England Lions. Ordinary county season three divisions to create space.

Six teams, five games each.

South coast: Sussex, Kent, Hampshire
London: Essex, Middlesex, Surrey.
West Country: Glamorgan, Gloucester, Somerset.
North: Durham, Lancashire, Yorkshire.
North Midlands: Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire.
South Midland: Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Playing at out grounds again would be nice. Not that it will happen again.

The one thing that would transform cricket at county level would be warm, reliable weather. More fantasy.

But cutting down the leagues in limited overs, and playing more knock outs feels like the best way to generate excitement around limited overs, even if it diminishes profit.

[st_brendy]

I'd basically have it as it right now, save for two minor adjustments. No random four day matches in the middle of the t20 season. A QF stage in the YB40 (which to implement best, might mean having four groups rather than three - and I would have no problem with that).

[st_brendy]

AC is right though. The one thing above all else that would improve the county system, is better weather!

[SaintPowelly]

Make a rule that says central contracted players MUST play x amount of games a year ( unless CLUB doctors can verify a player has an injury )

Remove regional T20 groups, its boring playing the same teams EVERY year, it'd be nice for Hants to play Glamorgan or Worcestershire for a change.

Remove LVCC game in the middle of T20 schedule ( as Brendy has already stated )

Less T20 fixtures and play them closer together, try and entice better overseas stars.

Let games start at 10:30 when you have lost play the day before.

[Making_Splinters]

LVCC:

3 divisions of 6 teams, top two go up and the bottom 2 go down.

All games to have at least 1 days play on a weekend.

[westoelad]

LVCC:

3 divisions of 6 teams, top two go up and the bottom 2 go down.

All games to have at least 1 days play on a weekend.

What a simple solution to the fixture congestion this is. Although 2 up and 2 down would mean in the 2nd division 4 teams would change each season. How about 1 up and down with 2nd bottom and top have an end of season play off-pipe dream - ECB would never agree to something which is innovative.

[SaintPowelly]

Remove regional T20 groups, its boring playing the same teams EVERY year, it'd be nice for Hants to play Glamorgan or Worcestershire for a change.

Infact I'd try and manufactor it so you attempt to play every team in a season across the formats in 1 competition or another, but without touching the LVCC, for example, Hants are in the same group as Essex in the T20,YB40 aswell as the LVCC, thats a minimum of 6 games against them, whereas we probably won't play Yorkshire at all.

[Durhamfootman]

I'd leave the divisions as they are. Despite the obvious advantages of having 3 divisions (and I've argued for that myself, in the past), the members just wouldn't tolerate 5 home games a year for their money.

I've said this before, and it just confused the hell out of everybody, but........

I'd link the entire county season to the 2 divisions of the CC. and have week long tours between teams that involved 1 CC match, 1 40 over match (I'd keep 40 overs), and 1 T20 match, and there might even be the opportunity to include reserve days to allow for poor weather. By having the same teams in 2 groups for every competition, there'd be no pointless travelling up and down the country for the teams. In a normal 20 week season that would mean 16 weeks playing time (so 4 weeks off for R and R) There would still be a small element of cross over between the divisions, courtesy of having knockout stages for the 40 over and 20 over competitions. At the end of the season, promotion and relegation in the county championship would change the teams for the following year across all formats, and I'd be reasonably content if promotion and relegation was increased to 3 teams.

As an aside...... I'd also include an additional 2 or 3 week long, 20 over competition played at the olympic stadium for franchise teams, completely separate to the county season (although doubtless some county players would end up being unavailable for their counties while this was on) with all England contracted players available to play and as many overseas players as you like. Kind of a showpiece, TV fest, with all singing, all dancing IPL type stuff for the people who like that sort of thing. Maybe 6 franchises but, I repeat, kept separate from the county season.

[from_the_stands]

I would expand the County championship to include Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands (it's not like any of them will be getting Test status anytime soon). Divide the 21 teams into 3 divisions of 7 teams each, thus allowing for 12 matches over the course of the summer, with 6 at home and 6 away (which is still more than what happens in SA, Oz and NZ. Two up and two down could work. In addition, I would have a region of origin series played between players eligible for national selection - a north vs south arrangement, with the first match played just prior to the naming of the squad for the first Test series of the summer, the second prior to the second Test series, and the third prior to the naming of the first winter squad. I'd use the same structure for the other formats, but would include semi-finals and finals.

[D/L]

Leave the Championship exactly as it is. There are not enough teams for three divisions and its prime purpose is not to generate income, but to develop test players. This it seems to do quite well.

Fiddle around with the one day stuff to boost the coffers a little if you wish, but not to the detriment of the main competition.

Regional teams and IPL style franchises are a non-starter. Most county supporters would give such matches, of whatever format, a wide berth and so, therefore, would sponsors, advertisers and broadcasters.

[Kim]

Leave the Championship exactly as it is. There are not enough teams for three divisions and its prime purpose is not to generate income, but to develop test players. This it seems to do quite well.

Fiddle around with the one day stuff to boost the coffers a little if you wish, but not to the detriment of the main competition.

Regional teams and IPL style franchises are a non-starter. Most county supporters would give such matches, of whatever format, a wide berth and so, therefore, would sponsors, advertisers and broadcasters.

Agree.

My main change to the county system would be to stop making changes.

[dan08]

Championship: 3 groups of 6. Bottom team to get relegated with top team promoted while 2nd bottom and 2nd top from league below have a play off.

One Day: 4 groups of 5. 8 group matches for a team. Top team in each group go through to the semi's.

County T20: Played on Fridays/weekends throughout the season. 4 groups of 5 - scrap the regional groups that exist at the moment.

Franchise T20: 9 teams (one for each Test ground), 8 matches each, IPL style eliminator/qualifiers for final - to be held at Olympic Stadium. Lasts around a month - England players to be available. 3 overseas per team.

[DeltaAlpha]

Leave the Championship exactly as it is. There are not enough teams for three divisions and its prime purpose is not to generate income, but to develop test players. This it seems to do quite well.

Fiddle around with the one day stuff to boost the coffers a little if you wish, but not to the detriment of the main competition.

Regional teams and IPL style franchises are a non-starter. Most county supporters would give such matches, of whatever format, a wide berth and so, therefore, would sponsors, advertisers and broadcasters.

Agree.

My main change to the county system would be to stop making changes.