The State of the Game: April 2010

The county cricket season has opened once more, this time at the earliest ever point in the calendar year, and it is worthwhile considering the current state of cricket in England and Wales. We need to ask some difficult questions: what is good about the current domestic setup? What systemic problems are there? And how can we improve the domestic game to help England improve as a cricketing nation?


It is useful to begin by looking at two foreign setups, and the function they fulfil: baseball in the United States, and cricket in Australia.

In the United States, the whole system is constructed with one thing in mind: making the best players better for each individual ball club. How many times have you heard announcers (that’s American for commentators, for all you who are not accustomed with American sports terminology) say that such and such a player has “come through the minors,” or they “got sent back to triple A, but since coming back to Wrigley Field they’ve been much improved”? The entire minor league setup is built around garnering the best talent for the major league ball clubs. The top minor league is triple-A; below that is double-AA; and below that is class A which is broken down again into three more tiers. Minor league ball clubs are affiliated with one team and one team only in the majors. Most major league ball clubs have associates at every level. This “farm system” is ruthless. This farm system works. The best players learn their trade in the minors; they polish their skills and are made as ready as possible for the big leagues.

If a similar setup was implemented in English domestic cricket, the most talented cricketers would be procured for Test level at a higher level than they are at the moment. The purpose of the English County Championship has to be to produce the best cricketers to represent England in Test matches. In effect, the County Championship has to become, to a greater extent, what minor leagues are to major league baseball. It has to be the top minor league. Every single player in the County Championship has to have his sights set on representing England at Test Match level.

One of the easiest ways to improve the domestic game in England is to make it as close a mirror of Test match cricket as is possible. Some alterations are easy to spot: we’re talking five day matches; ninety overs in a day; a new ball after eighty overs. Five day matches are a good idea because more matches will be won and lost, i.e. not drawn. Cricketers would get a better sense of how to win a Test Match. That might sound silly. But think back to England’s tour of the West Indies in the winter season of 2008 / 09, and twice England failed to win from two very dominant positions.

Of course, five day matches would mean fewer games could be played. That’s no bad thing. The best alteration made to the County game in the 1990’s was the two division system. There are eighteen counties, so why not go one step further: three divisions of six. Think of the top tier as triple-A, the middle tier as double-A, and the bottom tier as class-A. Each County would play ten County Championship matches through one season. That means a maximum of fifty days cricket a season with five day matches. Therefore, there should not be the nonsense of “resting” players as player fatigue should simply not be an issue. Fifty days of Championship cricket leaves space for the shorter competitions built in around the Championship, but the Championship has to take precedent over twenty20 cricket and other limited overs forms of cricket.

The current bonus points system in the County Championship is nothing short of a joke. It is pathetic. There has to be a bonus points system, but it does not have to be so complicated. Teams still have to be encouraged to try and win a game of cricket. Therefore, let us have twenty points for a win. But it rains a lot in England; sometimes a result is not always possible. Therefore, six points for a lead on first innings and six points for a drawn match. Under such a system, there is still the incentive to win the match.

One of the big debates in recent years has been the issue of overseas players. I am of the opinion that overseas players are, to a certain extent, good for the development of English cricketers. In my opinion, a maximum of two overseas players should be able to take to the field for a single county. The COLPAC regulation has blurred the meaning of “overseas”. As long as nine of any one County Championship side are eligible to represent England in Test Match cricket, I do not care whether they are called overseas, COLPAC or foreign.

There are issues left unresolved here. What about England players with central contracts? How do they fit into the system? We surely cannot abolish central contracts; they have proven to be one of the best innovations of the Duncan Fletcher era. They have to stay. And to be honest, I am not sure there is a conflict of interests between the system I have proposed and central contracts, but I am sure there are issues which I have not covered here.

Much of the success of Australia in world cricket over the past two decades (though as an Englishman it feels like much longer) has been attributed to the strength of their first class game, the Sheffield Shield. This competition is contested by six state sides (the same number of teams, you’ll notice, who would make up the top division of my plan, above), and competition is fierce to get into those sides. Australia is a big country with a large pool of cricketing talent; in the Sheffield Shield, the best play the best. Regularly. That is what we need in England. Television coverage is central to highlighting the top division of three Championship tiers in England. At present, I think only two County Championship matches are broadcast on Sky Sports through the whole of the summer. That is not enough. Increased television coverage of a competition which is contested by the top six counties would throw emphasis upon that competition and make it of greater importance: players would get used to playing in front of television cameras and get used to the in-depth scrutiny that only Sky Sports can provide.