ENGLISH cricket’s 18 counties are set to play only 14 championship matches each per season from 2014 if the Morgan Review into the domestic structure is officially ratified at Lord’s today. The review, undertaken by former England and Wales Cricket Board and International Cricket Council chairman David Morgan at the behest of this country’s governing body, has also recommended the increase of List A match duration from 40 overs per side to 50.
That would bring English domestic limited-overs fixtures into line with the standard for one-day internationals, World Cups and Champions Trophies.
Support for the changes is far from universal among all the counties. But at this advanced stage, it appears it will take an unexpected turn of events for the proposals to be thrown out at the ECB management board meeting.