PCA not ruling out strike action after county vote

After proposals to reform the County Championship were turned down, professional cricketers’ association chief executive Daryl Mitchell has not ruled out the possibility of players striking.

Instead of switching to a 12-team top flight with 13 matches per side, counties voted to keep the current two-divisional structure, with each team playing 14 games.

In order to protect player welfare, the PCA had pushed for a 12-game cut, but it was opposed.

Mitchell expressed disappointment and disappointment with the outcome of the vote in a statement to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on Thursday.

The players will guide us, the former Worcestershire captain added. Last night, there were some high emotions in the WhatsApp group, which was pretty lively.

We are one, not the other. Any union, in my opinion, would not omit the possibility of strike action if its members wanted it. We completely disagree with our members regarding that. If the player representatives and our members decide it is necessary, we will hold those discussions.

“I don’t believe we’d want to travel there.” We’re not trying to do that because it would have a negative impact on the counties and the game.

It hasn’t been extensively discussed, they say. Because there are implications, it’s also very simple to say but much harder to execute. One of the benefits of playing is that players are not paid, and another is that members must be able to cast ballots. I don’t believe it should be something we would encourage at this time.

A lengthy review of the counties’ domestic summer was concluded by the vote on the Championship’s structure.

Consensus on the Championship has been much harder to come by. Before it became clear that a 12-game model, which the PCA favored, would not be supported, there were several ideas on the divisional structure and number of games.

A 12-team top flight, split into two groups of six, was the centerpiece of the 13-game proposal. To give 10 matches, the teams in each group would play each other twice. The top three of each group would compete for the title, and the bottom three would fight to avoid relegation. With two promotion spots up for grabs, the remaining six counties would be in the second tier.

A majority of 12 of the 18 counties had to vote in favor of a new structure in order to pass legislation.

The status quo still exists as a result of the vote, which returned nine votes for change and nine against. Each county will play 14 matches while the top tier of the Championship will continue to have 10 teams. The second tier will have eight teams each.

The majority of our members were undoubtedly seeking change because the county schedule was “not fit for purpose,” Mitchell said.

There are “different viewpoints in every game.” Some counties favored 10 Championship games, while others favored 14 as the minimum requirement.

Five sets of playing staff informed the PCA that they were in favor of a 14-match season, despite Mitchell’s claim that not all of the 18 counties’ playing groups wanted a drop in Championship matches.

Mitchell believes the issue will need to be looked at sooner than the initial goal of the review, which was to agree on a schedule that would remain in place until the 2031 season.

He said, “I don’t think many counties will want to put up with it until 2031.” That had already been returned during the meetings I attended. This will continue to rage, in my opinion.