First-class counties to vote on 14 Strauss review proposals on September 20

GEORGE DOBELL: A reduction in the number of LV= Insurance County Championship matches, a fresh 50-over schedule, rewards for demonstrating a commitment to inclusion and diversity and a new distribution model are among the recommendations

Proposals from Sir Andrew Strauss' high-performance review will be shared with the first-class counties next week.

The Cricketer understands the first details of the review, which features 14 proposals, will be shared with the county chief executives in the coming days in the hope that county chairs will hold a vote on them on September 20.

While few specifics are available at present, it is understood a new distribution model will be one of the recommendations. This would see counties rewarded on a meritocratic basis with criteria including on-field success and the development of players.

There is also likely to be an element of reward for demonstrating a commitment to inclusion and diversity.

Other relatively uncontentious proposals will relate to the preparation of pitches and the use of specific balls in domestic competitions. There are also likely to be changes proposed to the points system in championship cricket and the amount of representation of what may be defined as cricket experts in board and administrative positions. 

More contentious proposals will relate to the scheduling of domestic cricket. In particular, it is anticipated that the review will propose a reduction in the number of LV= Insurance County Championship matches and a change to the domestic 50-over schedule which will allow England’s top white-ball players some involvement.

^{The County Championship is naturally a focus for the review (Harry Trump/Getty Images)}

Strauss admits the review does not start with a "blank piece of paper", though. Whatever else his review may propose, it seems it will not question the Hundred's place in the prime weeks of the season.

"It's not a blank piece of paper," Strauss said from Lord's on Friday (August 19). "The Hundred is part of the Sky deal. The Hundred is going to be there for this next period of time. It's very clear that the Hundred is not going anywhere anytime soon.

"Given the rise of franchise cricket around the world, it's really important that the English game has their own version. I think The Hundred is showing that it can do what it said it was going to do, which is introduce new people to the game.

"But of course, that makes the domestic schedule more difficult to operate. There's not a perfect schedule out there. I know that for a fact."

A couple of the issues Strauss hopes to resolve are the gap between the standard of domestic and international cricket – especially at first-class level – and the difficulty in producing players to bowl or face spin bowling.

"One thing we noticed which is very clear is that there's a bigger gap between the domestic game and international game in this country," he said.

"I don't see this review as a set of recommendations that will stay in place for decades to come"

Sir Andrew Strauss

"So in a lot of other countries, payers will start with better averages and the drop off from their domestic cricket to international careers is smaller.

"We also bowl fewer overs of spin in this country than anywhere else by a sizable margin. And often those overs are not bowled in a match-winning capacity.

"So if we want to encourage genuine match-winning spinners, the current setup is making it difficult for us to do so. The current setup being the kind of pitches we play on. The ball isn't turning and spinners aren't bowling."

It is far from certain that any of the more controversial proposals will be accepted by September 20, though.

Several of the first-class counties have already suggested they would need to consult with their members – 15 of the 18 first-class counties are member-owned – before agreeing to any significant changes.

County members are likely to be consulted before proposals are approved (George Wood/Getty Images)

With the counties currently urged not to discuss the proposals until the second week of September, any meaningful consultation process is likely to take considerably longer than Strauss has allowed.

He is keen to point out, though, that any changes should not be thought of as permanent. In a fast-moving world, he believes the game needs to be "nimble and adaptable".

"I don't see this review as a set of recommendations that will stay in place for decades to come," he stated. "It's about leadership and making sure that there is enough representation at the higher levels of the game for high performance that we're constantly focused on. 

"So, how are England doing relative to where we want them to be? How's the professional game doing relative to how we want it to be from a high-performance perspective? And if things need to improve and change them, you know, how do we set ourselves up again, as a game that we can make those changes and adjustments if necessary."

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