Dear Members,
Thank you for your continued support of our great County.
Marcus North (Director of Cricket), Ryan Campbell (Men’s Head Coach), Dani Hazell (Women’s Head Coach), and all our players truly value the backing you provide.
There is still all to play for this season: a top 3 finish is within our sights in the County Championship, on the verge of a Blast Quarter Final (with hopes of a home tie), and we have been pushing hard for a place in the final four of the Women’s Metro Bank Cup – an outstanding achievement in our first Tier 1 season.
Domestic Structure
There’s been growing discussion about changes to the domestic game, prompted by a PCA survey that revealed:
- 83% of players believe the schedule harms physical well-being
- 72% say it hinders high performance
- 67% are concerned about mental health
We’ve seen how the demanding calendar takes its toll. The example of playing at Edgbaston one evening, travelling overnight, and facing Lancashire at Durham the next day shows how far from ideal things have become.
This affects both player performance and fan experience. We want members to enjoy watching high-quality cricket, delivered by players at their peak.
Durham’s Board, alongside Tim Bostock and Marcus North, has collaborated with other Counties and the ECB via the Professional Game Committee (PGC). With new funding from the sale of Hundred teams, we believe the time is right for a bold, once-in-a-generation reimagination of our domestic structures.
In our opinion it’s time to think strategically and not parochially and address the long term health of our domestic game
We’ve spoken extensively with players, our coaching teams, members and sponsors. The goal is not less cricket — but better, more relevant, high performance cricket. We don’t believe the current structure and formats deliver this goal.
The Blast
The Blast is a great competition and is critical to both Fan engagement and as a foundation of our commercial success. However, as economic reality has hit our members and fans pockets, we, along with the majority of other Counties, have seen a decline in attendances over the last 2 years.
We have to work a lot harder to secure your discretionary spend and ensure that we provide “appointment to view” games that feature the best players, both domestic and international, performing to the best of their abilities.
To reignite interest, the PGC propose:
- Playing the full Blast, including Quarter Finals and Finals Day, before the Hundred
- Three groups of six teams, with fixed local rivalries (e.g., Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire)
- 12 matches per team (six home)
- Fixture rotation each year for cross group games to build variety and interest
- Six weekend blocks (Wed–Sun) for consistent, fan-friendly scheduling
Benefits include:
- A tighter, more exciting competition with a clear narrative
- Fewer games, reducing player fatigue
- Stronger overseas recruitment and squad continuity
Overall, we think this is a compelling proposition that will lead to better games with the leading players available more often and therefore a more exciting and engaging competition overall. We fully support this recommendation.
County Championship
Red-ball cricket is the bedrock of our game. At Durham, we’re immensely proud of our England player development record — behind only Yorkshire and Surrey in producing England players.
We support the 18-County model but, believe the current 10/8 division structure lacks meaningful fixtures as the season progresses. The current structure produces a plethora of games in both Divisions that do not have any meaning; teams involved in mid table games in the last third of the season onwards do not have any jeopardy… the teams involved cannot get into a title or promotion race and are safe from relegation. We don’t believe this produces the intensity of cricket that our great game needs and is something that both players and fans constantly comment on to us.
The 12/6 Model
We advocate a 12/6 split:
- Two upper conferences of 6 teams each
- One lower conference of 6 teams
- 12 matches per team, with 10 x home/away vs same Conference teams and 2 x inter-group fixture, one home, one away.
This enables 12 Counties to have a shot at winning the County Championship. But it also ensures that there is ample opportunity for teams in the lower Conference to compete at the top level within a short period.
We believe we should “raise the bar” for 12 teams to win the County Championship and not shrink to 8 teams as advocated elsewhere.
Promotion/relegation would be:
- 1 team relegated from each upper conference
- 2 teams promoted from the lower conference (1 automatic, 1 via playoff)
Our preferred format sees:
- The top team from each upper conference face off in a 5-day County Championship Final
- This would become the first £1 million domestic red-ball match
- Automatic promotion for the winner of the lower Conference with 2nd and third in a play off for the remaining promotion place.
A grand final is a model which is played across the world in Australia (Sheffield Shield), India (Ranji Trophy), New Zealand (Plunkett Shield) and South Africa (CSA Provincial 4 Day Domestic Series)
Benefits:
- Most teams are involved in critical games at all points of the season.
- Because the conferences are small the opportunity to get involved in a battle for top spot or get dragged into a relegation battle is very real… for supporting evidence study the Sheffield Shield positions, by round, over the last 10 years. It is not uncommon for a team in 4th place in the Shield after round 8 of their fixtures to finish up in the Grand Final.
- This level of jeopardy increases the intensity of games and has the benefit of closing the gap to the Test arena.
- That increased intensity with a pressure on winning should make the cricket that members and fans watch much more interesting and engaging.
- The teams in the lower conference have a 50% chance of at least being involved in a promotion play-off and a 30% chance of being promoted each season – nobody with the right ambition should feel they are isolated with no chance of getting into the top two conferences.
- Delivers 3 defined recovery periods for players and drives an additional 7 days recovery between games too.
Overall, we believe this proposal delivers significant benefits for all of the stakeholders in our game: members, fans, players, the international set up, media and sponsors. A win, win, win.
See below for a visual summary of our proposal…
The Alternate 12/6
An alternative approach sees teams play 10 internal matches, then form mini-leagues of 3 cross-conference to decide title and relegation. Points carry over. This would be a 13-game season for all teams. We support this model as a second-best option.
Other Models
Two other options have been put forward by a small number of other Counties, an 8/10 divisional structure and a 10/8 divisional structure.
In both cases we believe these are flawed models.
In an 8/10 structure there is an inevitable leaving behind of the 10 clubs in Division 2. It is a fact of life that there are some larger Counties with significant resources. These resources are likely to be further buoyed by the influx of additional Hundred monies and although we all operate to a salary cap it is inevitable that an 8 County top division is likely to include all of those larger counties and players will gradually transfer to those venues. We fundamentally do not believe this in the best interest of our game and, longer term, will lead to the demise of the 18 Counties structure and is not in the best future interests of cricket.
The 10/8 model is exactly the same as we currently have but with 2 less games. This does not seem to be a radical proposal and will still deliver “marmite” games through the back end of the season for several Counites not engaged in either promotion or relegation battles. In addition, it also means that in Division 1 teams only play 3 teams twice and 6 teams once. In our opinion this undermines the integrity of the competition.
Conclusion
We remain committed to delivering top-level cricket at Durham — for members, fans, and England teams.
These proposals aim to reduce workload, enhance performance, and offer more compelling cricket. We believe they represent the best way forward.
Thank you again for your support.
Kind regards,
Phil Collins
Chairman
For and on behalf of all staff at Durham – The Board, Coaches and Players.
We will hold a Members Forum on Wednesday 30 July with Chief Executive Tim Bostock to discuss the above. Members can register by clicking here.