Sussex chair Jon Filby has branded the ECB 's proposed changes to county cricket "unworkable", while Essex chief executive John Stephenson has raised concerns about damaging the "integrity" of the County Championship.
The ECB's high performance review, which was led by former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss, laid out 17 recommendations for English cricket. These include plans to make wholesale changes to the domestic game and Filby has pinpointed two major "red flags" in the review.
Firstly, he is unhappy with plans that which would see each county play four less T20 Blast games, something which would have a major knock-on effect on clubs who do not host a Hundred franchise or Test matches.
"Strauss' high performance review is equally unworkable as far as county cricket is concerned," he told BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. "When looked at through the lens of high performance it is exactly what the game needs. But we are not only looking through the lens of high performance.
"We are looking through a financial and commercial lens. We are looking through the eyes of our members who have cricket that they want and we're looking very much through a variety of angles that is not just high performance.
"In Sussex, particularly the T20 competition, we fill the ground up. In 2018 we had sell-outs and that obviously has financial benefits to us, roughly £100,000 for each of those eight games in terms of profit. But also the 6,500 people who turn up to each game are getting an opportunity to really enjoy an experience at the cricket.
"It can't be acceptable that we in Sussex shut our ground for a couple of matches when we know there are people who are desperate to come and watch and enjoy some of the world's great cricketers playing at Hove."
Filby was also critical of the plans to play red ball 'festival' matches alongside The Hundred, adding: "We played the world [Test] champions at Hove over the May bank holiday [in a First Class fixture] - it is quite a good time to attract an audience and people didn't want to come and watch that.
"We couldn't sell it. So if we can't sell New Zealand the chances of us selling some random festival red ball cricket in August are nil."
Stephenson also questioned the 'festival' idea, suggesting it would damage the Championship's integrity, and said Essex would not vote to reduce the number of Blast games. "I think we have to start from the basis that we cannot play championship cricket during the Hundred, we can't put the integrity of that competition in danger by playing a lesser red ball competition during the Hundred," he told BBC Essex.
"I hope the ECB views the 50-over competition with blooding young players as a high-performance bonus. I don't think the club are in a position to vote for any reduction in home T20 cricket.
"That is our life blood, that is what brings in the revenue to the club. But not only that, it's something our members love to come and watch."
