Andrew Strauss backs proposed radical shake-up of English County cricket
There has been a proposal in place to revolutionize English Cricket which would witness 18-first class teams battle across all three formats to determine an overall county champion.
The County Championship, One-Day Cup, and T20 Blast are being planned for a merger that is likely to be termed one of the most radical changes in English Cricket if the proposal materializes. The planning sparked from some informal talks that took place before former England skipper Andrew Strauss began his assessment of the suggestions for next month.
It is being reported that an unbiased panel has been handed the task to review the proposal. Strauss is all set to begin work after Rob Key completes his onboarding as the managing director of England men's cricket this week.
The focus will be on red-ball reset, which aims to improve the standard of the game in the Championship.
The findings from the review will be submitted to the ECB and County chairs in the summer, while some concrete decisions will be taken in the month of September. The proposal attempts to decrease the enormous volume of cricket played while not harming the existing structure.
Influential figures, including the likes of Rob Key, are in favour of changing the 10/8 two-division championship format to a 6/6/6 three-division one.
However, this is not being backed by the smaller counties due to fear of losing the championship status.
The proposed County format will see all three competitions being split into three divisions of six based on the previous season's results.
Although the three formats will be running as stand-alone competitions, with the much-hyped Twenty20 finals still to be played in the year, the overall league table will be in effect with points based on the results in each discipline.
 "Saunak Nag")
