Will Player Power defeat Morgan?

The Morgan Report into the future structure of domestic cricket in England had already come in for a huge amount of stick before today's publication of the survey of the people who actually play the game. David Morgan was never going to win over everybody. If there had been a blindingly obvious solution to all the sport's problems, even the ECB would have adopted it by now. As with every other sport, money is the crucial issue. English cricket cannot survive purely on the revenue generated by the hardy souls who brave the elements on a grey May day in Leicester or Liverpool to watch day two of a County Championship game. There are sponsors to consider, Sky TV, the eighteen counties and the demands for a structure which supports the national team in all three of its guises. There are other clubs and schools, too, not to mention the fans, but their opinions don't really count. Morgan spent a long time consulting with the great and the good in the game, tiptoeing through the politics and the vested interests and, towards the end of last year, came up with a wishy-washy mess of a compromise. Tinkering with the Championship to reduce first-class cricket fixtures, extending the T20 competition through the season and bringing back the 50-over format at the expense of the restored CB40 aroused deep criticism, but not necessarily from everyone about all the elements. Some people want fewer counties in order to reduce fixture congestion, as long as it's not their county which goes. There have been calls for the 'weaker' or 'poorer' counties to be axed yet ironically it is the Derbyshires of this world who are breaking even while the big guns pouring money into stadia fit for Ashes Tests who are making unsustainable losses. I don't hear many pleas for Lancashire, Surrey and Yorkshire to be culled! In some ways, English cricket is a victim of its own recent success. World Test No.1s and T20 champions with largely different players, three exciting County Championships in recent years with increasing audiences, a popular CB40 competition and T20s bringing in new and large crowds - but there simply aren't enough days in which to fit them! Then there is the ever-burgeoning international calendar, with the English season topped and tailed by the IPL and the Champions League. I was brought up on seeing the world superstars like Viv Richards, Zaheer Abbas and Richard Hadlee performing year after year for their respective counties, That can no longer happen because these superstars are playing for their clubs, countries and franchises all over the world, all year round. The PCA members who responded to the questionnaire on the Morgan proposals seemed to want an IPL-style block of T20 games in order to give the English competition real kudos and attract the world's best for more than just a fortnight. Fine, but please not a two-month yawnfest of meaningless league games! I was, however, reassured by the players' support for the Championship as the pinnacle of the game. Presumably Kevin Pietersen neglected to submit his response! However it was telling that the professionals rated the first-class competition only slightly more important than the Friends Life T20. Something would have to give if player power is allowed to steer the decision-making process, and that would be the one-day formats. But where would that leave preparation for the 50-over internationals which are so lucrative and popular around the globe and form the basis of the sport's World Cup? So what now for the ECB? They will have to make a decision quickly before the cricketing diaries fill up and the world's players sign their contracts, if they are still worth the paper they are written on. I sincerely hope they abandon the proposed tinkering with the County Championship. I admit that T20 has to stay as a money-maker but as a fan I'd like to see more of a knockout element. Perhaps instead it would be a 50-over competition which disposes of round-robin games in order to retain its existence but freeing up more dates for T20. I feel sorry for David Morgan and the 'suits' but they should listen to players and fans at the very least when it comes to supporting the continuation of the world's oldest competition, the County Championship.