The England & Wales Cricket Board is preparing to present a "watered down version of its plans to reshape county cricket on Tuesday" following "fierce opposition" from the 18 counties toward any radical overhaul of the domestic game, according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. Two days of meetings between the ECB and the counties begin at Lord's on Tuesday with the "likely result" the summer schedule in '16 will see more Twenty20 cricket played in the school holidays, a reduction in the amount of 50 over matches and the "possible dumping of early summer fixtures against university opponents." Those are the proposals likely to be offered with the counties "almost unanimous in their opposition" to a cut in the number of championship matches from 16 to 14 first aired publicly by ECB CEO Tom Harrison two weeks ago. There is "widespread agreement the summer schedule needs to be improved and a cut in the amount of cricket played," but many counties are worried about a "backlash from their members if they reduce championship cricket" and also think the credibility of the tournament will be harmed if 14 matches is approved as it will "end the present arrangement of each side playing the other home and away." It follows county opposition earlier this month forcing Harrison to "climb down on plans to propose a city based ten team Twenty20 tournament." Both Harrison and ECB Chair Colin Graves were "keen to explore forming a Big Bash style tournament and built a new executive team to help make it a reality" (TELEGRAPH, 8/31). In London, Ali Martin reported Harrison's stated aim is to "reduce the workload of players and thus increase the quality of cricket played." The former IMG exec knows he will have to "work hard to achieve this in the long term." Both Harrison and Graves have "similarly been frustrated by the response to their plan" to create a Twenty20 league. The players are at least in agreement, with the results of a Professional Cricketers' Association poll published last week showing 81.3% of their members "agree that a new T20 competition is needed to rival the Indian Premier League and Australia's Big Bash League." While that idea "looks to be on hold and the prospect of cutting the County Championship appearing a tough sell, the appetite for change among those at the top of the game remains high" (GUARDIAN, 8/31).
