BIG CRICKET SURVEY 2018: Essex are best-run county, while most clubs get high approval ratings

Supporters were asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with the way their county is run, and the Chelmsford faithful appear to be delighted by the way things are progressing as 88.6 per cent replied saying they were fairly or very happy

^{Essex fans are happy with their club}

Essex fans are the happiest with the state of their club, The Cricketer’s Big Cricket Survey has revealed.

Supporters were asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with the way their particular county is run, and the Chelmsford faithful appear to be largely delighted by the way things are progressing as a massive 88.6 per cent replied saying they were either fairly or very content.

Nottinghamshire’s administrators are well received by the regulars at Trent Bridge, with 83.60 per cent of fans confirming they are happy with how things are going, while Somerset (81.34 per cent) and Surrey (79.82 per cent) both score highly.

In fact, the consensus among county supporters appears to be that their clubs are being appropriately managed, with only four - Durham, Glamorgan, Leicestershire and Kent - receiving approval scores of below 50 per cent.

While only 43.68 per cent of Kent’s fanbase believe their club is well run, a quarter remain largely ambivalent to the situation at Canterbury - and a quarter said they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their club’s situation.

BIG CRICKET SURVEY'S DEMOGRAPHICS: Click here

Those figures look worse for Leicestershire, a third of whose polled fans said they were unhappy (though it should be noted that results were accumulated in the very early stages of the current campaign).

Interestingly, though, money does not appear to be the driving factor - 91.17 per cent of the Grace Road supporters who took part believe entry prices are either value for money or good value for money, while every single one thinks tickets are affordable.

The two other teams whose fans gave them the strongest disapproval ratings were Gloucestershire (29.17 per cent fairly or very dissatisfied) and Glamorgan (26.47 per cent).

There are plenty of clubs, however, who have received overwhelmingly favourable reviews.

Less than a 10th of responding fans from Surrey (2.75 per cent), Sussex (8.93 per cent), Middlesex (7.94 per cent), Yorkshire (7.79 per cent), Essex (2.63 per cent), Somerset (4.48 per cent), Warwickshire (8.57 per cent) and Nottinghamshire (8.2 per cent) said they were not satisfied with the administrative structure of their counties.

READ: The ECB's full response to the findings of our survey