Counties vote against County Championship reform

Professional Cricket Counties Reject Proposed 

County Championship Reform

The ECB have today confirmed that the Professional County Cricket Clubs have rejected a proposal for a 13-match Rothesay County Championship.

Speaking on the announcement, Sussex Chair, Jon Filby said:

“Whilst we are disappointed at the outcome of the review, Sussex Cricket will continue to campaign for a change in the Men’s domestic schedule. 

"The majority of counties and the majority of players think that the current schedule can be improved. 

"We have made it clear that we would support a new structure in which the top division of 12 teams is split into two conferences, with the bottom division made up of 6 teams. 

"We believe this gives us the opportunity to make it the best red-ball competition in world cricket.”

FULL ECB PRESS RELEASE:

Rothesay County Championship format to be retained following PCCs vote

The Professional County Cricket Clubs (PCCs) have voted on the future format of the Rothesay County Championship.
A proposal to play a remodelled 13-match Rothesay County Championship did not receive the required majority of votes from the PCCs to affect change.

The decision follows a county-led review into the structure of the men’s county competitions.

The review, which was staged in consultation with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), made proposals for changes to the Rothesay County Championship, Vitality Blast men’s competition and Metro Bank One-Day Cup men’s competition.

The PCCs agreed, via a vote in July, to alter the format of the Vitality Blast men’s competition when the review’s proposals did receive the required majority for change.

From next season the Vitality Blast men’s competition will be staged over 12 group-stage matches with counties moving into three groups of six.

The competition will also be played in a block before The Hundred, to enable a better competition narrative, with the 2026 Vitality Blast Men’s Finals Day confirmed for Saturday 18 July at Edgbaston.

A second vote was held this week regarding the county-led review’s proposal to play a 13-match Rothesay County Championship – featuring a 12-county ‘Championship’ and six-county ‘Championship Two’ – which included increasing the men’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup to 10 group-stage matches.

The result of the vote means that the Rothesay County Championship will remain at 14 matches, with Division One consisting of 10 counties and Division Two consisting of eight counties.

The same promotion and relegation mechanic also applies with the bottom two counties in Division One relegated and the top two in Division Two promoted.

The Metro Bank One-Day Cup men’s competition also retains the same format with each county playing eight group-stage matches in two groups of nine.

The outcome of the vote was shared with the PCCs yesterday evening to ensure that all players, support staff and supporters were aware prior to the start of the final round of matches in the Rothesay County Championship.