Giles Clarke 'lets fark up the County Championship'

I suspect foul play every time those farquers gat a sniff of power.

FFS accountants run everything these days and look at the direction the economy is heading.

If they want to make money from champ games, move them to Friday-Monday. Who is actually ABLE to watch FC games in this country? Only the unemployed and retired, not many of whom have the disposable income to support a ticket buying habit.

Three tiers wouldn't be a bad idea, but there deffo needs to be a promotion/relegation system with an open player transfer market.

S F Barnes wrote:
Three tiers wouldn't be a bad idea, but there deffo needs to be a promotion/relegation system with an open player transfer market.

I agree with this. Over the past 10 years the bigger clubs are tending to snap up the better players anyway (think Broad to Notts, Afzaal to Notts,Surrey etc...)

At least this way when Leicestershire do actually produce a talented youngster they would be compensated financially for him.

Afzaal to Notts, Surrey? He started at Notts and came to us.

Brass Monkey wrote:Afzaal to Notts, Surrey? He started at Notts and came to us.

So he did. I'm talking Bulacks as usual...

My point stands though.

JKLever wrote:

So he did. I'm talking Bulacks as usual...

My point stands though.

Yeah, better players seem to be going to 'better' counties. Not that they have to achieve anything. Just be a Test match county really.

JKLever wrote:

My point stands though.

You can get treatment for that.

Brass Monkey wrote:

JKLever wrote:

So he did. I'm talking Bulacks as usual...

My point stands though.

Yeah, better players seem to be going to 'better' counties. Not that they have to achieve anything. Just be a Test match county really.

Durham?

Yes, Durham.

Durham produce plenty of their own. And they won something last year. Are you being facetious?

This will upset many, but he also wants to end promotion and relegation between divisions, so the three conferences will be randomly drawn at the start of the season. It is unclear quite what this will leave them playing for, and a number of county chairmen are known to be opposed to tinkering to this degree.

This, in combination with the ridiculous picture leads me to think that this MUST be a late April Fool's joke .

Brass Monkey wrote:Durham produce plenty of their own. And they won something last year. Are you being facetious?

Facetious? Me? I was asking who's gone there in serach of a Test ground. (Di Venuto apart.)

Listen to this bull...

Tom Richardson, the chief executive at Gloucestershire who have struggled to climb out of the second division, was even more fulsome in his support. "The great thing about the conference idea is, from a members point of view, that there will be the prospect of playing against a number of different teams each year," he said.

"The jury is still out on two division cricket. They say it has improved the England team, but there are many factors to put into that. The fact that counties have academies, the use of A-team tours, and counties sending players overseas in the winter. So it's difficult to say that the evidence is there to fully support two divisions."

FFS all the players say it has raised standard and all this fooker can think about is 'county members'

PeterCS wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:Durham produce plenty of their own. And they won something last year. Are you being facetious?

Facetious? Me? I was asking who's gone there in serach of a Test ground. (Di Venuto apart.)

Oh reet, soz pete. Thought you'd cotton on that generalisations usually produce exceptions.

If they want to free up time to play more 20/20, all they have to do is scrap one of the other List A competitions

Basil wrote:If they want to free up time to play more 20/20, all they have to do is scrap one of the other List A competitions

I can't see what purpose the 40-over game serves at all these days. It used to be the money-spinner by getting the crowds in on Sundays but now Twenty20 has taken over that role and it's become a meaningless late-season competition which doesn't mirror any form of international cricket. Surely that should make way for an extended T20, although as others have said the crowds have started to decline as the novelty wears off so maybe it's a bit soon to be deciding that's the way to go anyway.

The three division championship idea seems a crazy idea, it just wouldn't produce competitive and interesting cricket. The concentration of talent in the top division that has gradually happened would all be wasted overnight and we would have a general watering down of the quality. And how would they decide the champions anyway?

Brass Monkey wrote:

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:'Clarke's proposal will be further discussed at the next county chief executives' meeting in July after which all talk of this preposterous idea will have ended.'

Fixed.

Not sure Geoff - how do you think he got in? He did an Australia and swayed some votes behind the back of his opposition. He must've done it somehow - I'm sure there're some bigger counties who just want to play a certain set of other counties - this could've been the vote clincher for him for all we know.

Yikes, reading what that non de plume at Gloucester has to say on the matter you could be right... as if? The thing is, while you and the rest of the country begrudges our importance, it's at times like this you and other like minded people from lesser counties up and down the country should be grateful that Yorkshire are so powerful, because as sure as eggs is eggs Mr Regan will poo poo this idea and that will be the end of the matter.

Random leagues mean Durham could get lumbered with Sussex, Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Hampshire, Durham would love that. There's a possibilty that the Roses match and local derbies will cease to exist, and where's the kudos in winning a six team league if all the teams in the two other leagues are better than you are? Nah, sorry Gilo, but it just aint going to happen. Salary caps on the otherhand...

You guys didn't post as to what decision was taken ultimately. Or is it still pending?







.

Still pending, will be for a while yet...