As England and South Africa roll up to Old Trafford for the second Test, there is more on Lancashire members’ minds than the near sell‑outs of the first three days, or the recent releases of sewage into the nearby River Mersey.
The last Test scheduled for Old Trafford, in September 2021, ended before it had begun in an atmosphere of some acrimony, after India pulled the plug following fears of a Covid outbreak in the camp. The 2022 Test also takes place with discontent bubbling – though this time the focus is on the England and Wales Cricket Board’s high-performance review led by Sir Andrew Strauss, and its possible repercussions for the County Championship.
A preliminary report from the review is due to land on county chief executives’ desks on Thursday – the first day of the Test – before the first set of regional consultation meetings on Friday. The report will include all the group’s workings, plus broad-brush recommendations for the future of the game, which will then be put out to further consultation over the next month. A final set of recommendations will then be produced – for a vote by the 18 county chairs at a meeting on 20 September.
Lancashire members, a legendary awkward squad at the best of times, have been at the forefront of a nationwide campaign to protect the County Championship in pretty much its current form – a view supported by the England Test captain, Ben Stokes. In an interview with the Telegraph, Stokes reiterated that there should be no reduction in the number of Championship games – now 14 a year – though the high‑performance review is believed to propose a cut to 12 or even 10.
The Lancashire Action Group, a somewhat controversial band who have been an irritant under Old Trafford’s skin for a while, have been able to reach club members who would normally dismiss them as a group of professional moaners and force change on Lancashire CCC with sheer force of numbers. An assurance to consider member views before 20 September rapidly changed to a promise to hold a special general meeting at the peculiar time of 9am on a Tuesday, and has finally resulted in a promise that the club will be bound by a member vote on the review proposals. The club will now hold a formal members’ forum at 6pm on 19 September at Old Trafford. On the table will be the review proposals, but also the option to vote for the status quo.
No other county club has yet promised to give members the last word, though 15 of the 18 clubs are member-owned counties – the exceptions being Durham, Hampshire and Northamptonshire. However, the reckoning is coming: as the proposals land, the wrangle over issues such as the number of T20 Blast or Championship games, promotion and relegation, windows for particular competitions, points structure and even balls will begin in earnest.
The ECB needs 12 of the 18 counties to vote in favour of its proposals – 12 being the magic number that could make up a new first division of the Championship, with the second division comprising the rest plus four of the former minor counties.
Despite some fantastic Championship cricket – enriched by the early-season arrival of some sublime Pakistani players and the blossoming of young players such as Harry Brook and Matthew Potts – 2022 has been a somewhat wretched summer for county cricket fans. Supporters have located polarised positions and dug in for the season, fortified by a pint of social media and a slice of the Hundred.
The bitterness felt by many members towards the Hundred has not dissipated, with feeling not necessarily against the competition itself – particularly the women’s contest, which has been such a game‑changer – but the way it was imposed from above and has muscled its way into peak season, edging all pretenders out of the way and stripping county first XIs of their assets. There have been raised eyebrows at the discounted ticketing that the Hundred has benefited from, the way its branding has taken over grounds, and the sidelining of the one-time golden goose, the T20 Blast.
What many supporters are desperate for is a season that has a friendly, familiar rhythm and doesn’t change from year to year with competitions ripped up here and inserted there. It was only in 2017 that the number of Championship games fell from 16 to 14, and there has been recent tinkering with the size of the divisions and the number of teams promoted and relegated. The B&H Cup died in 2002, T20 began in 2003, the 40-over competition played its last in 2013, replaced by the Royal London Cup, which now runs in the shadow of the Hundred, which was born in 2021.
Covid brought the two-year reign of the Bob Willis Trophy and a regional structure. And counties still don’t know what they are playing for in the final weeks of the season – how many, if any, clubs will be promoted, and who will face the drop. In short, as Michael Atherton said on Sky, “it’s a bit of a mess”.
In the meantime, the England Test captain – and World Cup hero – has retired from international 50-over cricket at just 31. “We are not cars,” Stokes said. “You can’t just fill us up and we’ll go out there and be ready to be fuelled up again.”
To Alan Higham, the national coordinator of the campaign to save first-class cricket, there is one solution that will smooth the waters, if not give an instant salve. “The key message is that all member‑owned counties give their members a meaningful vote,” he says, “following Lancashire’s example but without perhaps the pain of getting there.”
That’s something with which nearly everyone at Old Trafford could agree.
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