Exclusive: Yorkshire ready to fight for cricket's traditions

The club's chief executive Stewart Regan estimates more than two-thirds of the 18 counties want to reduce the number of four-day games to free-up days for coaching and rest.

Regan sympathises with that view but is adamant the Championship – the beloved competition of the Yorkshire members – should be safeguarded at all costs.

He believes reducing the number of Championship games from the current 16 per county to 14 or 12 – as has been informally discussed among the county chief executives – would adversely affect players' development and have calamitous consequences for the England Test team.

The clamour for change across the country represents a dramatic U-turn from last summer, when the majority of counties expressed little appetite for a similar idea put forward by Alan Fordham, the England and Wales Cricket Board's head of cricket operations.

Fordham suggested reducing the number of Championship games from 16 to 12 and possibly splitting the competition into three divisions, but his idea was rejected.

This year, counties are scheduled to play even more cricket than before due to an increase in 20-overs and 40-overs games and despite the demise of the Friends Provident Trophy.

But with clubs desperate to contest as much money-spinning one-day cricket as possible, it has left the Championship the most vulnerable of the three remaining domestic competitions.

Regan told the Yorkshire Post: "There is definitely a groundswell of opinion among the counties that the number of Championship matches needs to be reduced.

"More than two-thirds are of the mind we need to cut back on the amount of four-day cricket played to create more time for coaching and periods of rest. Although we agree there is too much pressure on players and clubs, we do not believe the Championship should suffer as a result.

"The best way to protect Test cricket is to retain the primacy and quality of the Championship because we need to ensure our Test cricketers have the best skills – technically and mentally – to produce their best at the highest level. In our view, it would be a very risky strategy to tinker with the Championship and yet a lot of clubs are suggesting just that.

"The idea has been discussed informally among the chief executives although there have been no formal talks as yet.

"It's hard to say if or when the competition will change, but there's got to be a good chance of that happening because something has got to give due to the pressures of the fixture list.

"But we're determined to protect the interests of the Championship and also of the Yorkshire members, who hold the four-day competition in the highest regard."

Rather than reduce the number of Championship games, Regan feels there should be a global review of cricket scheduling.

He believes there is too much international cricket and points to the introduction of an annual Twenty20 World Cup as a classic case of potential overkill.

"Do we really need a Twenty20 World Cup every year?" he added. "Personally, I would question that. The football World Cup, for example, only takes place every four years and an annual Twenty20 tournament seems a little too much.

"Unfortunately, the problem of fixture pile-up is a major issue in England because we've got more teams and play more games than other countries, but at the same time it's not just an English issue.

"I feel there should be a strategic review of the way the game is scheduled by the International Cricket Council which takes into account everything including Test matches, one-day internationals, the Twenty20 World Cup, the Twenty20 Champions League, you name it."

Regan said one way English cricket could help itself was by better arranging its domestic calendar. This year throws up the farcical situation of Yorkshire completing half their Championship programme by June 1, while their 40-overs fixtures are scattered hither and thither.

"The fixture list needs to be much better segmented," insisted Regan. "At the moment, we've got four-day games one week,

40-overs games the next, and the situation is far from ideal. What's happening is that we're trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot and that can't go on.

"As a club, I'm not saying we've got all the answers, but we do believe the Championship must not be compromised.

"Twenty20 is the growing part of the game in terms of revenue, so it's difficult to see that being cut back, and unless they take out another one-day competition, which is highly unlikely, the only other available competition to reduce is the Championship, which is clearly a worry."

White rose legends give their verdict...

Brian Close

"We should be playing as much County Championship cricket as possible. Nowadays they're playing all this Twenty20 stuff and it's crackers. One-day cricket is ruining the game and bowling standards in particular. Bowlers are nowhere near as good as they were in the 50s, 60s and 70s. All the administrators are interested in these days is money. I would go back to three-day Championship games. Then we might see sides bowling their overs quicker because we're down to 90-odd overs a day. We used to bowl 125-130 overs in a six-hour day, so why can't they do that now? The captains need a kick up the backside."

Dickie Bird

"They should leave the County Championship as it is, but I fear sooner or later they will cut it back. The bottom line is Test players come from the Championship, so it would be foolish to reduce the number of games. Unfortunately, it seems that Twenty20 is taking over and all people care about is money. Twenty20 has got its place, but only as a bit of fun to put bums on seats. I'm a big believer in protecting the Championship. But the way the powers-that-be view the competition is highlighted by the fact Yorkshire have got four Championship games in April, which is crazy. Sometimes, I wonder where the game is heading."

Bob Appleyard

"I don't want to see a reduction in the number of Championship games. We used to play over 30 a season and it didn't do us any harm. As a bowler, I can't see anything wrong with bowling 1,000 overs a season, but how many bowlers do that now? People like Fred Trueman and Alec Bedser, for instance, used to and they weren't slow bowlers, but you'd never get that now because the number of Championship matches has already gone down. In my opinion, spectators are getting a poorer deal and the Championship is going to be meaningless the way things are going. Not everybody is enamoured with the one-day game."