The England & Wales Cricket Board was warned that counties "could split" and form their own "Premier League"-style structure as the row "rumbles on over the future of domestic cricket," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. Andy Nash, the director who resigned last month from the ECB and heavily criticized the management style of Chair Colin Graves, warned "fed up counties could decide in the future to set up their own league if they are disillusioned by the board’s handling of the game." Nash said, "The game is at a crossroads. In India and Australia, the clubs have seen primacy in the game, and it is now of more value to them than the international format. In England and Wales, that hasn’t yet happened but I think that’s the direction of travel. Unless trust is re-established in the national governing body by its principal 19 members, then it’s possible that the clubs may look at what has happened in football and rugby, where they decide to form their own body within the auspices of the national governing body to represent their interests in a different way. That has to be a potential outcome unless ECB are able to get a grip, establish trust and reunify the game around the longer term aims and objectives" (TELEGRAPH, 5/17).
ECB TURNS DOWN SURREY: Hoult also reported the ECB "turned down an offer" from Surrey County Cricket Club to hold a trial match of its new cricket concept "the Hundred," which could have "potentially soothed relations" between the governing body and county cricket's biggest club. Surrey last week contacted the ECB with a request to stage an exhibition game of "the Hundred," featuring 100 balls per inning and the 10-ball over, at The Oval at the end of this season. But Sanjay Patel, the ECB's managing director of the new competition, contacted Surrey on Tuesday to inform the county it will "not be given the go ahead for the game." The ECB is "not quite ready" to hold a test event with so many details still to be finalized about "how the cricket side will work" (TELEGRAPH, 5/17).
POSSIBLE SWITCH-UP: In London, Scyld Berry reported conferences were "not considered a great idea" when Marylebone Cricket Club President Ian MacLaurin proposed them to replace the county championship 20 years ago. But the ECB Working Group which held its first meeting at Lord’s on Wednesday is "expected to conclude that the time has come for them to be implemented" in '20. The difference between now and '97 is that the championship is "effectively split into two halves of the season," early and late, with 50- and 20-over matches, and the future 100-ball format in the middle. The new conference system was the "brainchild" seven years ago of Yorkshire County Cricket Club Dir Martyn Moxon. He said, "If we want to protect red-ball cricket, and keep the 18 counties interested in playing red-ball cricket, we've got to do something different to what we are currently doing" (TELEGRAPH, 5/16).
