Arthur Crabtree wrote: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.
That sounds quite interesting , could sort of mix that in with the franchise system a bit maybe , every group there has a test ground just to make it even better
.
Durhamfootman wrote: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.
I like the idea , but do you think players would get sick/tired of playing too many games in too short a space? 6 Games a week for 4 weeks in a row with a one week rest in between is maybe a bit too much to ask?
Edit : Wait , maybe slight bit of confusion from me here then. Would you base the 40 over and T20 leagues on the county championship divisions then so when teams travel to a county they can play all their games?