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County Championship and One-Day Cup changes agreed for 2020 season

Last updated on .From the section Countiescomments130

Warwickshire lift the Division Two trophy
Warwickshire were one of two teams promoted from Division Two last season

The County Championship will feature a 10-team Division One from 2020, with only one team being relegated next year and three going up from Division Two.

The current structure - in place since 2017 - will be reversed, with eight counties to compete in the second tier.

The ECB also confirmed the One-Day Cup will run alongside the new competition - unofficially known as 'The Hundred' - when it launches in July 2020.

Overseas players will not be allowed to play in the 50-over tournament.

The men's domestic playing programme group (MDDP), chaired by Leicestershire chief executive Wasim Khan, met four times before agreeing to the proposals.

"We are very pleased that that there was unanimous support for a structure that will hopefully improve our domestic game and in turn the England teams," Khan said.

The T20 Blast will retain its present format, with four counties qualifying for Finals Day at Edgbaston.

From 2020, promotion and relegation in the County Championship will revert to two-up, two-down.

The ECB say the restructuring will give "an appropriate increase in security" to Division One teams and "increased opportunity" to Division Two sides, with a smaller percentage being relegated and a higher proportion of sides gaining promotion.

"After receiving unanimous agreement we will move forward with plans that will help ensure that our domestic game remains as vibrant as possible while producing players to help our England teams remain successful," said chief operating officer Gordon Hollins.

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130 comments

  • Comment posted by gs1647, at 15:34 31 Oct 2018

    The championship was perfect with 2 divisions of 9 counties playing home and away for 16 games, why change it? Now someone will be champions playing an unbalanced schedule. The 100 is a competition nobody wants, the sooner Graves and Harrison exit the ECB, together with Harrison's media and money obsessed cronies the better.

  • Comment posted by Soundsreasonable, at 14:37 31 Oct 2018

    This whole thing is a joke from the County Championship to the 100!! The ECB couldn't run a bath!

  • Comment posted by Demba, at 20:26 31 Oct 2018

    Terrible decision. So the counties will not play each other twice in the CC Division 1. No other sporting body treats its blue-riband competition with such casual contempt. Mad. The ECB sold the TV rights to Murdoch therefore ending free-to air Test. So cricket, which was on the crest of a wave in 2005, was turned into a fringe sport. They are wreckers. English cricket needs a revolution.

  • Comment posted by GaryTheAddick, at 15:31 31 Oct 2018

    I think there's a brewery somewhere waiting for something to be organised! As for the 14 games a season, cut back on the pyjama cricket and get everyone playing everyone else twice. County Championship games over weekends so people can actually go would be useful as well!

  • Comment posted by Peter Lanky, at 16:29 31 Oct 2018

    Do we really need promotion and relegation? Revert to one league playing 17 games over 22 weeks with the remainder reserved for test matches. Start all 9 matches on the same day each week. Play the pyjama games on one of the remaining 3 days in the week.

    Then everyone knows when the games are on, no team has an advantage and there is no longer an argument about D1 vs D2 players merits.

  • Comment posted by john-not-in-hendon, at 15:10 31 Oct 2018

    a nonsense the champions wont have played every team twice ,therefore they cant be champions...it should be 9/9 each division

  • Comment posted by Oh Ravi Bopara, at 15:14 31 Oct 2018

    There is nothing about how many games each team will play in the 10 team top division. At present the 10 team second division teams do not all play each other twice. This is a totally unfair system as one team can get 2 wins against the weakest side when their rivals only play that team once. Unless each team plays each side twice (18 games) then the championship will be completely devalued.

  • Comment posted by CP88, at 14:34 31 Oct 2018

    So overseas players who commit to a county for a long period of time will be unable to play for their county in the one day cup whilst at the same time the hundred is going that will allow overseas players.

    Clearly they know this is the only way they can attract overseas talent to their new competition by denying them the chance to play anything else.

  • Comment posted by Stu, at 19:38 31 Oct 2018

    ECB Chief Operating Officer, said: “It was important that the process took in the views of all the stakeholders in the domestic game"

    Utter BS. They never asked me for my view but guess what, I'm only a supporter - obviously not considered a "stakeholder"

    Typical ECB. Once again selling the game down the river. A stitch up - had the counties over a barrel.

    Who the heck is Gordon Hollins?

  • Comment posted by Mr Interlocketor, at 16:58 31 Oct 2018

    The ECB are a joke....they are only interested in money..too much pyjama cricket...county championship is ruined

  • Comment posted by Stu, at 18:18 31 Oct 2018

    This isn't progress is it? If teams do not play each other twice then the competition is seriously devalued. How can that happen unless we start in March and finish in October.

    The 100 is universally unwanted except by the clowns who dreamt it up. Why do they not listen to the supporters? Of course - they know best - more accurately they think they know how to maximise revenue but at what cost?

  • Comment posted by hohum, at 15:30 31 Oct 2018

    Is the complaint always there is too many games so how does an extra tourament help!

    agree with the commnts re not playing every other Div One team home and away

    Only the ECB driven my marketing folk could come up with such a wrong headed idea.

    Its a mad mad world!

    As for the 100!

  • Comment posted by 931035, at 08:25 1 Nov 2018

    I'm about ready to give up. I've been going to county games since I was 10 but the ECB has destroyed the structure in the last 15 years, starting with central contracts. I only went once this season, and have no desire to attend games next season.

    Congratulations, ECB. In chasing an audience of people who are not interested in cricket you are losing your core.

  • Comment posted by benjohn 1982, at 21:43 31 Oct 2018

    Dear ECB, please forget about this 'The Hundred' nonsense, looks a non-starter. May I suggest more emphasis on the county championship with the old format of one league, each county plays each other once. Please get cricket back on free to air. This is not rocket science! You do not need to complicate the great game

  • Comment posted by bean43, at 17:50 31 Oct 2018

    Still can't believe they are continuing with the rubbish 100 idea.

    Made up teams, made up format, bizarre rules made on the hoof (eg take off your 2 worst fielders), and no interest from fans.

  • Comment posted by gs1647, at 15:47 31 Oct 2018

    What will happen in the 50 over cup to those counties whose majority of players are playing in the 100? I guess they play a second eleven, another competition ruined. Please, please can we have someone to run the game who actually loves it!

  • Comment posted by London county again, at 20:10 31 Oct 2018

    Are the ECB serious ? CC Div 1 is supposed to be the domestic 'Blue Riband' of our once great game yet they decide that some teams play a team twice and some once !! Just imagine if in the Premier League Cardiff played Man City twice but Huddersfield only once ! Complete and utter bonkers , time to follow another sport, one that has integrity and fairness, and common sense !!

  • Comment posted by Shark Attack, at 15:51 31 Oct 2018

    The main issue I see with struggling to play games is that not all teams play every week.

    Some weeks there will be 3 games in Div 1, so 2 teams not playing. Then the following week only 2 games and large spells without a game.

    Last season Yorkshire went 12 days without a game at one point and then played 9 days out of the next 11.

    Every game should start on the same day in CC. Simples

  • Comment posted by Martyn, at 07:19 1 Nov 2018

    In fairness to the ECB they have remained resolute in their quest to eradicate the County Championship.

  • Comment posted by Peter Lanky, at 16:14 31 Oct 2018

    Only politicians could contrive such absurd combinations of games, formats and numbers more adeptly than the ECB. Can somebody just explain in simple English how two divisions with different numbers and not playing the other teams twice is of benefit to the game?

    A teenager with good spreadsheet skills could come up with a better solution in an afternoon. Why pay these numpties good money?

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