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Marco Marais earned himself a slice of cricketing history at East London last week, by crashing his way to the fastest first-class triple-century

Firdose Moonda01-Dec-2017Border batsman Marco Marais earned himself a slice of cricketing history at East London last week, by crashing his way to the fastest first-class triple-century, for Border against Eastern Province.”I don’t think anyone actually thinks they are going to get 300,” Marais told after making an unbeaten 300 off 191 balls. “Before the season started I was targeting over 500 first-class runs and I have already passed that, so now I am going to have to make new goals for myself for the rest of the season.”Not only did Marais achieve a career-first triple-century but he broke a record that has stood for 96 years. Australia’s Charles Macartney’s triple-hundred came off 221 balls against Nottinghamshire in 1921. He went on to finish on 345.Marais may well have surpassed Macartney’s score at Buffalo Park but Border called time on his innings as soon he reached the triple-century. They declared on 512 for 4, bowled their provincial rivals Eastern Province out for 212 and were 66 for 2 in response.Though the match was not won, Marais will claim a personal victory after an innings which featured 35 fours and 13 sixes and featured a record fifth-wicket stand of 428. He hopes the innings can provide a stepping stone to break into the Warriors franchise side.
“I really hope someone sits up and takes notice. I think every semi-pro player dreams of playing at the next level, which is franchise cricket, and I would love to play in it,” Marais said.The franchise are currently engaged in the Ram Slam 20-over tournament, where they sit at the bottom of the table with only one win from six matches. Their woes would well call for someone with Marais’ confidence, especially as his approach appears to be based on self-belief.”I was striking the ball so well,” he said. “I decided that I was just going to go hard at them and it came off in the end.”Marais’ coach Frank Plaatjes said he had “never seen anything,” like the innings before and believes there is more to come from the 24-year old. “I have always said Marco is a special player, I knew something was on the cards because he has been playing so well, but we didn’t expect 300 to be honest,” Plaatjes said.Marais is currently in action for Border against Northern Cape in Kimberley, where they are struggling. Border were bowled out for 115 in their first innings and Marais made just 5. He currently sits second on the three-day cup run charts.

The U-19 coach is happy to have a squad that features some first-class experience heading into the showpiece junior event in New Zealand

PTI27-Dec-20171:58

‘Great to have players with first-class experience’- Dravid

India Under-19 coach Rahul Dravid’s aim is to see a few of the World Cup-bound players included in the A team within the next six to eight months.”The World Cup is an exciting challenge and provides a good opportunity for all these guys. There is a process now in place in Indian cricket: U-19 cricket to first-class cricket and then to India A and then the India national team, when the opportunity arrives,” Dravid said before the U-19 team left for New Zealand.”I have been talking to these players about other formats as well. If they can make it to the India A team in six-eight months, it will be great. We see this [World Cup] as a stepping stone.”The current India U-19 captain, Prithvi Shaw, has already played for the India A team during warm-up games against touring New Zealanders in October this year.Dravid refused to predict who among the current batch has the potential to make it big at the senior level. “I have learnt a lot in these years as coach of the U-19 and A teams. These boys are from a different generation and their thinking is different. They have to adapt to all three formats. It’s a huge challenge. The game has changed a lot.”I can’t say who can go on and make it or who cannot. All of them have the potential to play for their state and India in future.”On India’s chances in the upcoming global event in New Zealand, which starts on January 13, Dravid exuded confidence. The key would be adjusting to the conditions quickly, he said. “The conditions would provide a unique challenge in that no one in the team has played in New Zealand before. The key would be in adapting to the conditions well. We have tried to replicate the conditions in the Bangalore camp to the extent possible but it’s not possible to do it completely.”The squad is set to leave for New Zealand on Thursday morning. Three-time previous champions India, who finished runners-up in the previous edition, are in Group B alongside Australia, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea.The squad has a few players – like captain Shaw of Mumbai, Shubman Gill of Punjab, Himanshu Rana of Haryana, Ishan Porel of Bengal – who have been playing first-class cricket, which the coach termed as a plus for the side.”It’s always good to have players in team with some first-class cricket experience. This team too has a few. The team is similar to the one we had the last time, with only one major difference – that in the previous team there were people with more experience of having played the U-19 World Cup.”This team too has a good pace attack, good spin bowlers and a good batting unit like the last one.”Shaw was happy to have practice games to help the team get into the groove. “We are going to play a few practice games before the World Cup. That will help us. Playing first-class cricket will be of help to me in the World Cup,” Shaw, who already has five first-class hundreds to his credit, said.”It’s a great opportunity and as captain I want to take the whole team with me. Everyone in the team knows his role. I want to win the World Cup.”

Jaydev Unadkat and Andrew Tye the only millionaires on day two

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-20183:13

Unadkat the most expensive Indian

Making it in the nick of time

Twice Chris Gayle’s name came up at the IPL auction, and twice he failed to get a bid. Just when it seemed like the highest-profile overseas player of the league over its first decade would not be part of the 2018 edition, Kings XI Punjab picked him up, triggering loud applause from all the other franchises in the room. Kings XI got Gayle at his base price, a mere INR 2 crore (USD 312,000 approx).Other high-profile players who benefited from a second chance were India opener M Vijay (INR 2 crore to Chennai Super Kings), wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel (INR 1.7 crore or USD 265,000 approx to Royal Challengers Bangalore), and Australia quick Mitchell Johnson (INR 2 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders), all of whom were bought when they were recalled on the second afternoon after going unsold the first time around. As per the regulations, any player who went unsold the first time – or second, as in Gayle’s case – could be called up again, provided any of the franchises put in a request for the same.

The biggest buys of the day

Seamer Jaydev Unadkat became the first millionaire on day two of the auction, as well as the most expensive Indian buy over the two days. Rajasthan Royals made the winning bid: INR 11.5 crore (USD 1.8 million approx). The bidding went back and forth between CSK and Kings XI till INR 11 crore – the most paid for an Indian on day one – before Royals swooped in.Australia seamer Andrew Tye also fetched in excess of a million – one of only two players to do so on the day – going to Kings XI for INR 7.2 crore (USD 1.1m approx).Karnataka offspinner K Gowtham set the pace early in the day, going for 31 times his base price to Royals for a shade below a million dollars. RCB, KKR and Mumbai Indians were the other teams involved in the bidding, his price rocketing up from INR 20 lakh (USD 31,250 approx) to INR 6.2 crore (USD 968,000 approx).PTI

Nepal arrives

Though there have been 10 seasons of the IPL, it continues to keep throwing up firsts. On Sunday that came in the form of Sandeep Lamichhane, the first player from Nepal to be picked in the auction. The 17-year old legspinner, who has played grade cricket in Sydney alongside former Australia captain Michael Clarke, was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for his base price of INR 20 lakh (USD 31000 approx). Head coach Ricky Ponting said: “The Delhi boys flew him out and saw him bowling in the nets, he was pretty impressive, he might not be ready to play yet but they saw a lot of talent there … it’s only of those speculative bids, see if he can turn into a world class bowler in a few years.”

The Afghanistan quotient

Last year, two Afghanistan players were picked up at the auction. This time that doubled to four: experienced allrounder Mohammad Nabi (Sunrisers for INR 1 crore or USD 156,000 approx) and Under-19 players – both of whom are at the ongoing World Cup in New Zealand – Mujeeb Zadran and Zahir Khan got bids, in addition to Rashid Khan from day one. Sixteen-year-old Zadran, who can bowl traditional offspin and mix it up with legspin when required, was picked up by Kings XI after some extensive bidding for INR 4 crore (USD 625,000 approx). Zahir is a left-arm wristspinner who went to Royals for INR 60 lakh (USD 93,000 approx).

Big guns go missing

It was Royals who opened the bidding overall on a day when in effect 471 new players were up for grabs, plus any of the unsold players from day one. On day one, 78 out of 110 players were bought, with superstars from IPLs past like Lasith Malinga finding no takers.Like on day one, several high-profile names did not get a bid on Sunday, including Australia’s Shaun Marsh, England’s Eoin Morgan, West Indies’ Lendl Simmons, South Africa’s Dale Steyn and New Zealand’s Martin Guptill – Guptill, like Gayle, was called up three times in all, but did not get a bid.

The Right to match rush

The first of the three Right To Match (RTM) cards used on the day was from RCB, on left-arm spinning allrounder Pawan Negi – he was taken off Mumbai for INR 1 crore (USD 156,000 approx). Two more came in quick succession when the pace bowlers’ set began: Royals retained Dhawal Kulkarni (INR 75 lakh, USD 117,000 approx) and Kings XI held on to Mohit Sharma (INR 2.4 crore, USD 375,000 approx).

All in the family

The first sale of the day was another uncapped Indian spinner, legbreak bowler Rahul Chahar. He was picked up by Mumbai for INR 1.9 crore (USD 296,000 approx). Just before lunch, his brother Deepak Chahar was bought by CSK for INR 80 lakh (USD 125,000 approx). Deepak was the top wicket-taker in India’s domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, this season with 19 strikes and an economy rate of 5.58 in nine games.

England Lions have been hit with further withdrawals after Essex’s Dan Lawrence suffered a hand fracture while batting in the nets ahead of the third unofficial Test against West Indies A

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2018England Lions have been hit with further withdrawals after Essex’s Dan Lawrence suffered a hand fracture while batting in the nets ahead of the third unofficial Test against West Indies A, starting on Monday. The injury, which will rule Lawrence out of the one-day series to follow, means a Lions debut for Sam Northeast, who only arrived in Antigua on Sunday but goes straight into the starting XI.Northeast, 28, recently completed a move from Kent to Hampshire and is highly regarded on the county circuit – although curiously he has never represented the Lions, despite long being touted as an England prospect. He was due in the Caribbean for the one-day series but has now been drafted into four-day squad.Lawrence’s place for the one-dayers has been filled by Warwickshire batsman Sam Hain. Lawrence was not involved in the first two first-class games against West Indies A, both of which the Lions lost, but had been due to come into the side after Liam Livingstone suffered an ankle injury and was forced to go home early ahead of his maiden Test tour with England.However, he was struck on the right hand during net practice on Saturday, with X-rays subsequently revealing a fracture. He joins Livingstone in leaving the tour early, along with Ben Foakes and Mason Crane, who were scheduled to depart after the second Test.Northeast left Kent after refusing to extend his contract over the winter, citing Division One cricket and the chance to press his case with England as a reason for moving to Hampshire. He will be one of three debutants in the Lions team at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, with Northamptonshire quick Richard Gleeson – an injury replacement for George Garton – and Somerset spinner Dom Bess also coming in.Hain, who will also be involved in the North-South series, comes into contention for the three one-day matches, starting on March 6. The Lions have already had to make changes to the squad, with Toby Roland-Jones and Matt Critchley coming in for the injured Tom Helm and Liam Dawson, who has signed up for the Pakistan Super League.England Lions XI to play West Indies A in third unofficial Test: Keaton Jennings (capt), Haseeb Hameed, Nick Gubbins, Joe Clarke, Sam Northeast, Alex Davies (wk), Paul Coughlin, Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Richard Gleeson

Rumaan Raees’ knee injury adds to Islamabad United’s woes as they slump to their second loss in three matches

The Report by Danyal Rasool28-Feb-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
In a nutshell
The first PSL game in Sharjah began with a crushing six-wicket win for Quetta Gladiators. They first stifled Islamabad United and restricted them to 134 despite some terrific top-order hitting from Luke Ronchi, whose 26-ball 43 accounted for a bulk of the runs. After his dismissal, however, Misbah-ul-Haq and JP Duminy, both playing their first games of the season, managed 36 off 51 balls between them. That Islamabad crossed 130 was courtesy a late charge from Faheem Ashraf. For Quetta, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Nawaz and Hasan Khan enjoyed successful spells.Quetta’s response was spearheaded by Kevin Pietersen, who rode his luck initially before settling into ominous touch. When he did, he squashed any plans Misbah might have been harbouring to beat an unlikely path to victory, smashing three huge sixes en route to a 34-ball 48. Peripheral contributions from Mohammad Nawaz and Asad Shafiq and Shane Watson were more than enough to seal what was, in truth, a cakewalk for the two-time runners-up.Where the match was won
If someone told Islamabad United that their two biggest overs with the bat would fetch 24 and 18, they might have been quite pleased. Tell them that those two would account for nearly a third of their total runs, and you’d wipe that smile off their faces. They managed just 92 off the other 18. Anwar Ali provided a good start, while left-arm spinners Mohammad Nawaz and Hasan Khan kept Islamabad on a leash in the middle overs. The precocious Hasan was responsible for the most crucial moment in the game, bowling Luke Ronchi with his first ball. The New Zealand opener was the only Islamabad player who looked in any touch, and in his absence, Quetta’s bowlers outclassed a listless batting side.The men that won it
The PSL has seen a few close low-scoring games, and without Pietersen’s cavalier self-confidence, this could easily have turned into one of them. After surviving several early jitters, he found himself in good touch and immediately set his mind to putting the game out of Islamabad’s reach while he was finding the middle of the bat. No bowler was safe from his onslaught with Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf coming in for particular punishment. By the time he sliced one off Steven Finn, the required rate was around 3.5, and the outcome of the game was academic.Benching the superstars?
The team sheets prompted a fair bit of reactions because two of the most explosive T20 cricketers were left to warm the bench. Quetta began without Jofra Archer – although it later emerged he was nursing a bruised heel – but it was Islamabad’s decision to leave out Andre Russell that baffled many. It didn’t look any better tactically as the game went on as Islamabad limped along for much of their innings, crying out for a power hitter who sat warming the bench.Moment of the match
Chadwick Walton may walk away with the award for the best catch in the tournament, a diving left-handed grab catch at mid-on off a Shane Watson biff. It’s pretty harsh, then, that it wasn’t even enough to dismiss the batsman as it was off a free hit. It didn’t matter who you supported, but seeing that sort of brilliance go unrewarded felt like a massive waste, more so because Watson had also been dismissed off the previous delivery, only for him to be reprieved because Rumman Raees had overstepped. It was a rough day for the left-arm fast bowler anyway; he was led off on a stretcher after a diving effort on the boundary resulted in his ankle landing awkwardly on the ball.Where they stand
Quetta move up to third with four points. Misbah’s Islamabad, meanwhile, are stuck on two points, and are placed fifth.

The bidding for the TV and digital rights to Indian cricket from 2018 to 2023 has already passed the winning bid for the previous cycle by over 15%, and the bidding hasn’t ended yet

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai03-Apr-20181:19

Indian cricket’s rags-to-riches broadcast rights story

The bidding for the television and digital rights to broadcast Indian cricket from 2018 to 2023 has already passed the winning bid for the previous cycle by over 15%, and the e-auction has spilled into a second day to resume at 11am on Wednesday.The top bid in the e-auction stands at INR 4442 crores (USD 680 million approx.) in the Global Consolidated Rights (GCR) category, which comprises the worldwide television and digital rights to international cricket hosted by the BCCI in India.Once the bidding began at 2pm IST on Tuesday, the BCCI tweeted an update with an initial top bid of INR 4176 crore for the GCR category; subsequent higher bids were INR 4201.20 cr, INR 4244 cr, INR 4303 cr, INR 4328.25 cr and INR 4442 cr.After every bid, participants got an hour to raise, which made the e-auction a two-day affair because proceedings could not go beyond 6pm IST on Tuesday. The bidding process will continue until the participants notify that they do not wish to bid higher.The bidders were narrowed down from six to three – Sony Pictures Network India, Star India and Reliance – after the BCCI’s legal team carried out technical and feasibility checks before the e-auction began on Tuesday.There were three categories of rights on sale: the Indian television rights and rest of the world digital rights (GTVRD), digital rights for the Indian subcontinent alone (ID), and the global consolidated rights (GCR) comprising worldwide TV and digital rights.The successful bidder will get to telecast 102 men’s international matches over the five-year period compared to 96 in the previous six-year cycle from 2012 to 2018. The 102 matches will be split among the home seasons as follows: 18 in 2018-19, 26 in 2019-20, 14 in 2020-21, 23 in 2021-22 and 21 in 2022-23. The rights will also include men’s domestic matches as well as the India women’s international matches.
As per the latest break-up of the season-wise bid released by the BCCI, the third bid amount of the day of INR 4244 saw the highest per match bid of INR 43 cr for the 2018-19 season, followed by INR 42.50 cr each for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, and INR 40 cr each for the remaining two seasons, 2019-20 and 2020-21. According to a BCCI official, the figures for the last two seasons of the cycle – 2021-22 and 2022-23 – for the final bid of the day could have reached close to INR 47 cr per match to keep the inflation factor in mind.For the last bid made on Tuesday, of INR 4442 cr for 102 matches across five seasons, the average figure per match amounts to INR 43.5 cr which is 8.5% above the previous cycle’s per match average of INR 40.1 cr. The BCCI official expected this per match average to go up to around INR 60-65 cr by the time the bid ends, which would take the total bid amount into the range of INR 6100-6600 cr. That would mean a rise of at least 13% for the per match average and at least 58% when compared with the total amount of INR 3851 cr for the previous cycle.In 2012, Star TV, then owned by Rupert Murdoch, had won the rights to broadcast Indian cricket until 2018. That deal, which also included internet and mobile rights, was valued at INR 3851 cr (approximately USD 750 million at the time). The other bidder that year – at INR 3700 cr (USD 727 million at the time) – was Multi-Screen Media (Sony).The sale of these rights will mean a second huge payday for the BCCI in less than a year. In September 2017, the BCCI had sold the worldwide IPL television and digital rights for the period 2018-22 for INR 16,347.5 cr (US$ 2.55 billion) to Star India.

The former Pakistan legspinner signed a one-month contract with Cricket West Indies, after which he is likely to return as head coach at the NCA in Lahore

Umar Farooq08-May-2018Former Pakistan legspinner Mushtaq Ahmed has signed a one-month contract as West Indies’ spin-bowling coach.Mushtaq’s contract with the PCB as the National Cricket Academy head coach ended last month and the extension takes effect from July, allowing him to take up the role with Cricket West Indies.”It’s a privilege to work with the West Indies cricket team,” Mushtaq told ESPNcricinfo. “They have produced many greatest cricketers and I have wonderful memories playing against a few in the 90s. They probably are not the same force in the world cricket at this stage but they still have a consistent pipeline of exceptional cricketers coming in the system. It’s a short contract but still a month-long deal is ample enough for me to create a difference.”Mushtaq, 47, had also spent 18 months with Pakistan as bowling coach between 2016 and 2017. Azhar Mahmood, who was recently appointed Pakistan’s bowling coach, had first been brought on as a temporary replacement for Mushtaq for the Asia Cup in February 2016. He then worked along with Mushtaq at the World T20.Mushtaq had also worked with England as a spin-bowling consultant in the past.ESPNcricinfo understands that Mushtaq’s contract renewal with PCB remained uncertain until last week, because the board was contemplating roping in former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq. Amid this, Mushtaq was considered by Sri Lanka for the position of spin-bowling coach but then signed with West Indies after Sri Lanka went with a local coach.He is likely to resume working at the NCA after this short assignment.

Nottinghamshire have a dreadful Championship record at Taunton and four wickets for Craig Overton suggested it might continue as they trailed by 258 on first innings

David Hopps10-Jun-20182:12

Craig Overton leaves leaders Notts following on

ScorecardNottinghamshire and Somerset occupy the top two places in the Championship, but billing this encounter as a Championship decider does not ring true. Somerset’s challenge can be sustained deep into the season, encouraging expectations that their first Championship title is a possibility, but Notts do not suggest the stuff of champions.That view was only encouraged by events on the second day at Taunton when Nottinghamshire responded to Somerset’s 392 by collapsing to 134 all out in 37.1 overs. Some stability was restored when they made 112 for 0 following on in a truncated final session, but a deficit of 146 still looks likely to translate into eventual defeat.There is no cause to cavil over Tom Abell’s decision to insert Nottinghamshire for a second time, even if there have already been fleeting signs of turn and Matt Carter, who took 10 in the match on debut on this ground, has already added another five as Somerset extended their first innings to 392 before lunch, suggesting he could be a tough proposition in an awkward fourth-innings chase.Notts’ first innings had only spanned 37.4 overs so exhaustion didn’t come into it, but there were few alarms in the 30 overs which followed as Steven Mullaney, a captain who will lead England Lions later this month, and Jake Libby summoned comfortable resistance.To turn this around, though, would challenge not just the match situation, but a habit of more than 30 years. Nottinghamshire have a terrible record at Taunton, with six draws and 10 defeats since their last Championship win here in 1985.

Things have clicked – Overton

Craig Overton feels that he is in his best form of the season: “Since the final games of the one-day competition and going into this match I feel things have really been clicking for me with the ball,” he said.
“I was bowling okay at the start of the season, but not as well as I had hoped. When I am running in hard and the ball comes out as it did today it is always pleasing and I’m delighted to have claimed four wickets.
“There were signs of turn in the closing overs so hopefully if we can get a couple of batsmen out early tomorrow we can apply some pressure. There was some discussion about enforcing the follow-on, but with a 250-plus lead we reasoned that if Notts scored 400 in their second innings, we would still need only 150 to win.”

Nottinghamshire arrived at Taunton with exalted status – seven points ahead of Somerset, who lie second with a match in hand with a match in hand, with Surrey a further two points distant in third. Three early-season wins were sourced from excellent early-season bowling in favourable conditions, but it would take a substantial batting improvement to maintain such promise.”We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” said one Somerset sage to a mate over lunch. How many summers have they watched in the hope that a first Championship would arrive at Taunton only for their bounty to be lost even as the Quantocks in the distance were transformed into the colours of harvest time?Without the contribution from Ross Taylor, their New Zealand batsman, Notts would really have been in a pickle. Taylor made 74 from 89 balls, a shrewd counter-attacking innings which reached its maximum ambition at nine down when he hoisted three legside sixes in an over off Craig Overton, one of them mighty enough to disturb residents on the balconies of the adjacent flats. Considering that a letter of complaint was once received about the unsightliness of the new outfield drainage, further missives could already be on their way.Overton, despite that over, had a decent day, bowling at the upper range of his pace and aggression, as if in what seems to be the perpetual absence of his faster twin brother, who is searching for fitness and rhythm, he is trying to fulfil both roles at once. Twins can do strange things.Either side of lunch Overton produced an inspired spell from the River End, which saw him take three wickets for four runs in his first three overs. Libby fell to an excellent ball which left him and Mullaney was lbw to one which jagged back. Soon after lunch, Samit Patel also fell for nought to one that swung back. In all, there were four ducks in the top six as Lewis Gregory sent Chris Nash and Riki Wessels packing without scoring, both trusting unwisely to the back foot.Worse could have resulted from 28 for five as Abell missed the stumps with a chance to run out Tom Moores and Taylor, on 14, survived a good lbw shout from Gregory. Taylor played with gusto thereafter and, even when he ran out Carter, trying to keep the strike, it just irked him into that final six-hitting assault.

Azhar Ali on Somerset’s radar as counties look for late-season recruits

George Dobell27-Jun-2018Nottinghamshire are hoping to sign South African batsman Quinton de Kock as an overseas player for the final few weeks of the county season.De Kock is understood to be a target of the club and could join them after South Africa’s tour to Sri Lanka which finishes in mid-August. He is, however, understood to be one of two targets and nothing is finalised just yet.New Zealand’s Ross Taylor has been at Trent Bridge for the first half of the season but departs shortly. The club have signed Dan Christian, from Australia, and Ish Sodhi, from New Zealand, in their T20 side. De Kock is expected to be available for the final six Championship matches of the campaign.Nottinghamshire are currently second of Division One. They may, however, face a struggle to sustain an excellent start to the season due to international call-ups and injuries. They have also lost several top-order batsmen – not least James Taylor, Alex Hales, Brendan Taylor, Greg Smith and Michael Lumb – over the last couple of years.In the longer term, they are expected to compete for several out-of-contract county players including Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke and Zak Chappell, who has now had approaches from eight counties.Meanwhile Somerset are understood to be pursuing Pakistan’s Azhar Ali as an overseas player while, in domestic transfer news, Middlesex are emerging as favourites to sign Somerset all-rounder Lewis Gregory.Liam Plunkett, who is unsettled at Yorkshire, is also understood to have had interest from several counties while Jordan Clark is far from certain to leave Lancashire but seems to be wanted by other counties, including Warwickshire. Leicestershire’s Ben Raine is also coveted by several counties.

A survey by the Professional Cricketers Association strongly supports promotion and relegation in four-day cricket but on The Hundred there is not a word

David Hopps20-Jul-2018Professional cricketers in England and Wales have come out overwhelmingly in favour of the retention of a two-division Championship with promotion and relegation in a powerful message to the ECB working group currently debating the future structure of the first-class game.The players’ message will quicken the belief that a move to a Conference system – variously advocated over the past few months by Yorkshire and Sussex in an attempt to protect the 18-team county structure – is gradually losing support.Players are even more adamant that they want to play the three county formats – four-day, 50-overs and Twenty 20 – in distinct blocks, even though they know that the ECB has indicated that this will be impossible once The Hundred becomes the centrepiece of the English summer.The Hundred, envisaged as English cricket’s groundbreaking challenge to the IPL and Big Bash – and worth an extra GBP £1.3m to the 18 first-class counties – has invited widespread debate, including ridicule from many established county supporters, as proposals about how it will work have gradually emerged.Disappointingly, the opinion of the players on The Hundred has yet to be surveyed on the grounds that it is outside the remit of the working party, chaired by the Leicestershire chief executive Wasim Khan.As far as The Hundred is concerned, the ECB is keeping decisions within an inner circle and allowing limited opportunity for opposition.With 89% of PCA playing members surveyed believing Test Match cricket is the most important format of the world game, those thoughts are supported in domestic male cricket too.The structure of the County Championship is one key area which is under review and feedback from players suggests 79% would like to keep promotion and relegation with members agreeing the current system maintains an intense standard of competition for both players and spectators.Players firmly believe there should be no four-day cricket played during The Hundred, therefore not compromising the Championship which a large majority of players still view as the most important.But if players can express preferences, turning those into a workable fixture list is much more problematic.As many as 93% of players have called for the county white-ball season to be played in blocks so they can avoid the chopping and changing that they believe causes a fall in standards.That led PCA chairman Daryl Mitchell to warn as the survey results were revealed that some switching between formats is inevitable.”With the desire to create blocks for different formats over recent years, it has meant that the Championship has been slightly marginalised with a huge proportion of games being played in April and September,” he said.”Players feel there is a need for more four-day cricket to be played in the middle of the summer for members and supporters to watch as well as to enable players to play in better conditions. This will therefore mean switching between formats is inevitable.”The survey, carried out to gain members thoughts on how male county cricket will be played from 2020, will feed into the ECB’s working group. Disappointingly, it was completed by only 240 of more than 350 regularly active professionals.PCA director of development and welfare Ian Thomas and former PCA Chairman and current personal development manager Mark Wallace are on the ECB’s working group to represent the views of current players.The PCA chief executive David Leatherdale is on leave of absence from his role due to stress with non-executive chairman Matthew Wheeler taking on Leatherdale’s responsibilities in the interim.The volume of T20 Blast games to be played from 2020 is also yet to be decided and 72% of players would like there to be either 14 group games per season as now, or a rise to 16 to allow for each county in North and South Group to play each other twice.As long as 50-over cricket remains the format played internationally, there is a strong feeling that domestic cricket should mirror the international level with only 10% of players wanting to move away from the current 50-over competition.PCA Chairman, Daryl Mitchell, said: “It was great to see a large number of PCA playing members respond to this survey and this is a vital piece of research to understand members’ views to further influence the PCA’s stance on the domestic structure.”I am pleased to see the results support views which we are always informally gathering through conversations around the county circuit.But Mitchell again sidestepped the issue of The Hundred, even though many players have expressed disillusionment or anger that the eight-team tournament will not be played in the accepted worldwide gold standard of T20.”2020 it is an exciting time for cricket in this country with the new competition bringing huge opportunities to our playing membership and with that it is imperative we get the domestic structure right,” he said.