- author, Stefan Shemilt
- role, cricket chief writer
Joe Root is leading a call for players to reduce the amount of domestic cricket and review a schedule that is “not fit for purpose”.
A survey by the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) found that 81% of players were concerned about the physical strain of the match list and 76% were concerned about unsafe travel between matches.
“It's clear that the schedule needs to change for a number of reasons in the long-term interests of English cricket,” former England captain Root said.
“Ensuring space to recover, prepare and improve your game during the season is extremely important, and creating minimum standards to protect travel periods and player welfare is non-negotiable. ”
Information from players was gathered by the PCA during pre-season meetings with all 18 first-class counties, leading to this unprecedented collective call to action.
The PCA said players were concerned about their health due to the tight turnaround between games, leaving little time for recovery and practice and potentially leading to dangerous away plans. There is.
Darryl Mitchell, chief operating officer of the PCA and former Worcestershire captain, said: “We feel strongly that the game must listen to its most important asset, its players.''
“The decline in cricket needs to be strongly considered as a solution that the game desperately needs.”
Yorkshire batsman Root, 33, has captained England in 64 Tests and added that the change in fixture schedule could benefit the national team.
“We are trying to find a way to bring the standard of first-class cricket and county cricket as close as possible to international competition,” he said. “There are a lot of players who don't think their schedule will lead to high-level performance.
“If we can find a way to narrow that gap and make the product better from a stakeholder and member perspective, everyone wins.”
Counties will play a minimum of 14 Championship matches, 14 T20 Blast matches and eight One-Day Cup matches, which equates to at least 78 days of cricket played in a season.
Including The Hundred, there will be 121 days of domestic men's cricket this summer, not including other matches against universities and national counties.
The Blast, which is primarily held in June and July this year, has been a particular pinch point in the schedule, with counties hoping to hold games from Thursday to Sunday to maximize attendance. ing.
This season, the county playing on consecutive days in the Blast has had 55 cases, up from 34 cases last year. Combined with the county championship, the schedule can be relentless.
In June, Gloucestershire played a T20 away to Glamorgan on Thursday night, a T20 at home to Somerset on Friday, then traveled to Scarborough to play Yorkshire in the Championship on Sunday morning. I'm planning on going to the match.
Any changes to the structure of the national competition will require county approval.
The PCA will now present stakeholders' views to the ECB on how the schedule can be shortened.
“The point of doing this is to try to create more awareness of it,” Mitchell said. “There is definitely sympathy and understanding at the ECB. There is potential for participation in a wider network of counties with chairs and members, but I think probably not that many.”
“The men's domestic schedule is a complex issue, as the PCA is also aware,” an ECB spokesperson said. Players have an important voice in discussions on this matter and we are committed to working with them and leading counties to discuss how best to overcome some of the challenges. ”