2017 fixtures

Thanks for starting this thread coverpoint. I had heard something about this on another forum. Can you post the rest of the Time article please?

I frankly am not bothered on which day matches begin. It is all the messing about that I strongly object too. We were told a few years ago after the infamous survey that lots of people play on a Saturday so those days should be avoided. Also that Friday nights were best for 20/20. Now all that has been thrown away. I do not trust the planners to do anything right. Perhaps another survey is called for?

Happy to oblige, hhs. The story is written by my old friend Ivo Tennant, whom I had the pleasure of introducing you to at Hove a few seasons back.  A proper old fashioned journalist who  does his research thoroughly and double checks  his sources, and doesn't take speculative fliers like Dobell and Ammon. Here it is :

County Championship matches will be held on Fridays and Saturdays at the start of next season in a victory for supporters.

For the past three years most matches have begun on Sundays, resulting in complaints from fans who want more chances to watch first-class cricket at weekends.

The change follows a growing belief that fixtures should be staged when most people are free from work commitments. The fixture list has not been finalised, but seven rounds of four-day championship matches starting on a Friday have been pencilled in from April until mid-June.

Twenty20 Blast fixtures will then be held from Thursday to Sunday, beginning in the second week of July. The 50-over competition also has to be fitted into a crowded schedule. The bulk of these group matches will be staged in May, including on certain Saturdays.

The first four rounds of championship fixtures will not clash with international cricket and, after the thrilling finish to last season, the ECB is hoping for heightened interest.

Cricket on Fridays should also attract more corporate hospitality than in the early part of the week. Late-season championship matches will start on other days. “The 2017 schedule will have a different structure with different formats played in calendar ‘blocks’ as much as possible to help players prepare better and avoid the ‘chop/change’ factor,” an ECB spokesman said. “In the previous schedule, a player could switch formats as many as 24 times a season and the new structure aims to bring this down to single figures.

“We are aiming to schedule T20 fixtures in a Thursday-Sunday window to help maximise attendance in line with the feedback we have had from counties as part of the planning process.”

MCC, which stages Twenty20 fixtures at Lord’s on Thursday evenings rather than Friday evenings, lobbied the ECB for change. The organisation feels that the attendance at a Middlesex match in June would increase by up to 20 per cent if the fixture began on a Friday.

“There is a growing consensus in the game as a whole that we need to play more matches at times when more people can attend — there has been a positive response from counties to the plans for a day/night round of championship matches,” the ECB spokesman said.

Derek Bowden, the Essex chief executive, said: “Our members will be pleased. Sunday starts have not been that successful as people have found other things to do.”

Personally I think this is all good news.  Playing the T20 in a block overThursdays to Sundays starting in mid July is so much better than Friday nights in May. I'd even go to T20 matches played in daylight on Saturdays and Sundays. But much as Ivo is one of the few in whose reporting I have complete trust,   I can't see how the RLC will be played on Saturdays in May if there are seven rounds of CC games spanning Fridays and Saturdays in the eight or nine weeks between mid-April and mid-June...

I'm also disappointed to hear that the ECB says there has been "a positive response from counties to the plans for a day/night round of championship matches.” Is  Sussex one of the counties who have volunteered to host this as a way of getting back in the ECB's good books after the King Canute silliness over the new eight team tournament?

Anway, it's all a long way off. The only fixture list I'm interested in at present is Warriors v Knights which I'm going to see in Port Eliizaeth on Wedneday followed by Cape Cobras v Titans at Newlands!

I would imagine Jim May is cheering from the Spen Cama rooftop because Sunday starts for Sussex have been a total waste of time.

Dare I suggest the ECB are finally seeing sense? Whether this is influence from Andrew Strauss, Colin Graves or Tom Harrison, does it
matter? Clubs like Sussex can finally sort out Hospitality Days for the Fridays and Saturdays. Which poses the question. Were the ECB,
in the past, fit for purpose?

Seems to me, under the auspice of Giles Clarke they were more a joke than a serious business, where the only legacy Clarke left behind
were a series of rich financial media deals. Everything else like his personal vendetta against India and Lalit Modi were little more than
embarrassing sojourns.  

Since it's inception it has  been run by white male grocers - McLaurin (Tesco and Sainsburys), Clarke (Majestic wine warehouses) and Graves (Costcutter).

Graves  was elected (unanimously by all 18 counties, lest we forget) until  2020, when it would be great if he could be succeeded by the first non-grocer to lead the ECB. Sticking with the food-and-drink theme, Jack Monroe or someone who runs a food bank would be great.

But until Jack takes over,  I would rate the Graves leadership to be the most able and professional the game has ever had. I think his tenure  may also be the first  time in 150 years  that the game's senior administrator didn't have the disadvantage of a  £30k per annum public school education  - although he  appointed Harrison (Oundle) and  Strauss (Radley) to cover  for his own lack of class...

Could they be released on 24th November? Normally the last Thursday in the month.

FIXTURES: The Sharks' 2017 @natwestt20blast Fixtures will be released at 6pm on Thursday; @countychamp & @rl_Cricket will follow at midnight