Surrey Chair Oli Slipper has given Members and supporters an update on the proposed changes to the County Championship schedule currently being debated amongst the 18 First-Class counties.
Slipper gave his full backing to the option which retains 14 County Championship fixtures as it maintains a higher quality of teams in the top flight of the competition.
The alternative proposed would see a top division of 12 teams split into two groups, with each group of teams playing each other home and away. After 10 games, the top three teams in each group would play each of the teams in the opposite group to bring the total to 13 games. The County Champions would be the team with the most points.
The bottom three teams in each pool would do the same with the two teams with the least points being relegated and the top two teams from the six-team division two being promoted.
The Surrey Chair also revealed that the Club’s players are fully behind the decision to retain 14 games with 100% of players polled indicating their support for no reduction in matches.
Slipper also indicated a preference for the decision to be a long-term choice that settled the future schedule for at least six years in line with the ICC’s Future Tours Schedule of international fixtures.
Surrey have seen County Championship crowds more than double since 2019 with over 70,000 spectators having already attended at the Kia Oval this year. Meanwhile, Membership at Surrey has doubled since 2015 with more Members than ever before choosing a Championship Membership which only gives access to County Championship and Metro Bank One Day Cup fixtures.
Watch the full interview:
