Essex County Cricket Club are ‘pleased with the initial outcome’ of Andrew Strauss’ much-anticipated high performance review of English cricket.
The former England test captain was commissioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to conduct a review of the sport following England’s humiliating defeat to Australia in last Winter’s Ashes series.
Number 1 Across All Formats
One of the overarching objectives of the review was to enable England Men’s teams to be number 1 in the world across all formats within five years.
It was feared by many in the sport that the report would seek to reduce the number of first-class counties, fortunately, this has proved not to be the case.
Initial Outcome
In a press release issued in response to the report’s publication, Chief Executive and Interim Chair of Essex CCC, John Stephenson said, “We are pleased with the initial outcome of the High-Performance Review and the Club, our members and stakeholders can now plan accordingly for the 2023 season. Protecting the status of county cricket will always be a main priority for the club, whilst also playing our part in growing the game and developing players for the test arena.”.
Strauss’ report recommends a number of changes to the sport’s organisation, including a slimmed down top division in the County Championship and a reduction in the amount of home games in the T20 Blast.
Strauss wrote, “Our research shows that the first-class counties play a higher volume of domestic cricket compared to the rest of the world, while feedback from players is that a reduction in the amount of men’s domestic cricket played is essential.”