'Minor Counties' set to be rebranded and restructured in major overhaul

Following a review process and a lengthy consultation, the Minor Counties Cricket Association is set to vote on changing their name to the National Counties Cricket Association in February...

It is not just the English professional game heading for an overhaul in 2020 – minor counties cricket is set for a major rebranding, restructure and financial settlement.

There will be more matches in the 50-over Trophy and T20 competitions, but a reduction from six to four three-day Championship fixtures each.

And the term 'minor' is set to be removed for sounding too pejorative.

On February 21, the Minor Counties Cricket Association will vote on a proposal by the ECB Minor Counties Review Group to change their name to the National Counties Cricket Association.

The three MCCA competitions were rebranded back in 2014 – to the Unicorns Championship, Unicorns One-Day Trophy and Unicorns T20. But some critics argued that 'Unicorns' did not adequately explain who these teams were. So from 2020 the tournaments will take on the prefix NCCA.

Martin Darlow, an ECB board member and former Bedfordshire Cricket chief executive who chaired the Minor Counties Review Group, told The Cricketer: "I was told by some people that we would never get a name change through. It's been the Minor Counties Cricket Association forever – it's legacy, it's history.

"But in the end there was no iota of opposition to the name-change. The first-class counties wanted to change it too because they found it awkward referring to the 'minor counties'.

"It's important for sponsorship reasons – some counties have found it hard to attract sponsorship for something branded as 'minor'. It's self-defeating. We need to make all the counties viable for sponsorship."

Darlow admits that at the start of the review process he raised the possibility of the Minor Counties Championship being abolished altogether.

There has been criticism that some minor counties teams do not field enough players from their home county, instead relying on ambitious club cricketers from neighbouring areas.

"It's been the Minor Counties Cricket Association forever – it's legacy, it's history."

It is also difficult for players to get time off work to play in the three-day Championship, which is played from Sundays to Tuesdays. The one-day and T20 competitions are generally less expensive to organise and easier to secure time off for.

Instead, the review group decided to reform the Championship.

The structure has been changed from the traditional 10-team Eastern and Western Divisions to two five-team tiers in east and west. The bottom team in each leading pool will be relegated and replaced by the second-tier winners.

"Yes, getting rid of the Minor Counties Championship altogether was a possibility," says Darlow. "I was one of the people who raised the question – is the competition still doing what it should be doing? But I was persuaded that it is, so long as we restructure it."

The review group followed a survey of players over the future structure of minor counties cricket in 2017, which led to the return of the T20 competition last year.

Darlow said: "In terms of consultation, we reached saturation point. We spoke to so many people. The majority were in favour of a reduction from six games to four in the Championship from 2020.

"The rules and regulations need to be clarified, but there will be some kind of age regulation, so that counties will be penalised if they don't comply with playing enough young players. That will hopefully mean more young players playing from their county league, not shipping players in.

"The two-division approach will work because the strongest sides will play at a higher standard, and the strongest teams in the second tier will have a chance to go up.

"It means that players who work will only have to secure eight days off work compared to the current 12 [assuming they do not work on Sundays].

"Alan Fordham [ECB head of cricket operations, who compiles the fixture calendar] is going to ensure that the playing programme for the Second XI Championship will not overlap with our fixtures.

^{Kevin Pietersen bats for Hampshire against MCCA side Shropshire in the 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy}

"We shouldn't directly clash with The Hundred anyway – because they will all be evening games, whereas we will be on club grounds during the day with no floodlights."

The Trophy will kick off the season, followed by the T20, and then the Championship in the height of summer, when university students are more readily available.

The review group also included ECB head of non-first-class cricket Paul Bedford, Nick Archer, the chairman of the MCCA, David Graveney, the ECB national performance manager and former national chairman of selectors, and MCCA secretary Phil Caley, who contributed to a Cricketer magazine feature on the future of the minor counties game in November.

Archer told BBC Sport: "These changes will make [the Championship] far more competitive. There'll be no hiding place. We'll have the best sides playing the best sides.

"In the past, there have been occasions when, due to the way the fixtures are set up, with only six games to be played in a 10-team league, you can finish top of the league maybe not having played the three best other sides.

"Now, with more availability of players too, due to there being fewer games, the best team will win it."

The one-day Trophy has been changed back from a straight knockout to the old structure of four group games, followed by semi-finals and a final. This ensures each county two home games on Sundays in a competition popular with spectators.

The T20 could also feature the best teams from the British Universities Championship.

Matches between the first-class and NCCA counties would also return in 2020, played on an NCCA home ground as friendlies.

Though Somerset have played Devon or Cornwall on an occasional basis, the fixtures have all but disappeared since 2005, when the ECB cut the minor counties from the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy knockout competition.

^{Sonning Lane, one of the grounds used by Berkshire County Cricket Club}

Darlow said: "It will come down to negotiations between the two counties about whether it's a 50-over or two T20s, or one T20.

"I guess it will depend a lot on prep for upcoming competitions. But if I was a NCCA county I'd be seriously thinking about playing back-to-back T20s. How good would that be at your local club?"

There has been some suggestion that, as with the Royal London One-Day Cup – which will run alongside The Hundred in high summer from 2020 – first-class counties are bound to put out weakened sides, as the best short-form players will be involved in the ECB's new competition.

But Darlow says otherwise: "The first-class counties are committed to sending down strong sides for these fixtures. There will be people on the ECB first-class cricket steering group who will not be best pleased if they don't."

Darlow added that the new arrangement will mean more cash being distributed to each of the NCCA counties than previously, though the sums have yet to be fully worked out. He said the money will come from the £10m pot allocated to all non-first-class cricket.

Darlow said: "Though the precise details have to be worked out, this deal means more money will go towards individual counties.

"I must pay tribute in particular to Paul Bedford and Nick Archer for all their superb work on this review."

Recent MCCA research suggested that it costs £45,000 a season for each county to run teams and cover expenses across all three formats – meaning the entire minor counties game is run for less than £1m.

Darlow added that he would like to see more of the county boards developing charitable foundations to help with community work and raising money for cricket.

The ECB's new strategy – Inspiring Generations – outlined that 20 of the 39 boards (first-class and non-first-class) had charitable arms at present.

Assuming the MCCA does vote to rename itself, it would end 125 years of history: the Minor Counties Championship was formed in 1895 by Paul Foley of Worcestershire (who did not become a first-class county until 1899). It is hard, however, to quibble with the change from a branding viewpoint.