ECB says fans win in county overhaul

The England and Wales Cricket Board will reduce the number of teams in county cricket's top division next year from nine to eight, saying a reduced match schedule and fewer switches between different formats of the game will benefit players, national teams and fans.

The ECB announced Monday that Division One teams would play 14 first-class matches from 2017 – down from 16 – and just one team will be promoted from Division Two this summer.

After that, two teams will go up and two go down each year.

The championship will be run in segments of fixtures, pausing for one-day and Twenty20 matches to be held.

"The changes for 2017 will be good for fans, players and our international teams," ECB chairman Colin Graves said.

"The season is easier to follow; the blocks help players focus on specific skills, and there's a better balance across all three formats."

Frequent changes in format can make it difficult for players to adjust to widely different game plans - from the need to smash quick runs in T20 matches to stabilising an innings in the four-day format.

"Last year a county player could change between formats as many as 24 times over the summer," said former England captain Andrew Strauss, who is director of England Cricket at the ECB.

"Next year that could be down to as few as six."

Graves added "there is an appetite for change and cricket is moving fast - we must not be left behind."

Western Australia and Perth Scorchers player Michael Klinger highlighted the issues with the format switching last summer during another successful winter spent playing his trade with Gloucestershire.

At one stage, the vagaries of the schedule saw Gloucestershire complete a first-class match against Lancashire on a Wednesday, travel to Essex for a T20 match the next day before returning to their home base at Bristol in England's west at 2am, where they hosted Glamorgan hours later.

"It's not ideal, obviously, coming back at 2am (but) that's just the schedule and what we have to deal with," Klinger said after Glamorgan match, which his side lost despite a century from Klinger.

"In terms of the scheduling it's up to the ECB to decide but for us it's been a busy week that result wise hasn't gone our way.

"You don't often get hundreds in twenty20 cricket and your team loses," said Klinger.

The ECB plans still differ significantly from that used in Australia's top flight of domestic cricket. In recent Australian summers the season has started with the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup run in its entirety in a carnival format before the first-class Sheffield Shield season begins. The first-class cricket takes a six-week break over the summer school holiday period for the KFC Big Bash League before The second half of the Sheffield Shield season.