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Domestic Playing Programme – Message from our CEO and Chair
Dear valued Somerset Member,
At the outset, we would like to thank you all for the incredible support that you have provided for our Somerset men’s and women’s teams in 2025. Your on-going support is an incredible asset of the Club and greatly appreciated. Our Vitality Blast crowds have remained strong while our Rothesay County Championship crowds are up 20 percent so far this season, which is testament to the passion Somerset crowds have for red-ball cricket. To have also had 2000 people attend a stand-alone Somerset Women’s Vitality Blast match recently was a stamp of approval for the exciting growth of women’s cricket in the region.
You will undoubtedly be aware that the ECB is currently undertaking a much-publicised review of the men’s fixtures in time for the 2026 season. This process has gained some understandable commentary across social and mainstream media channels of late and, given its relevance to all who love the game, we thought it worthwhile to ensure that the facts of the situation, as well as our consolidated Club views on the review, are presented clearly to our Members and supporters. These messages were shared directly with Members at an in-person forum on Monday night at the Cooper Associates County Ground.
Our Club’s stated purpose is to ‘Inspire the South West through cricket’. The key to that is putting on inspiring cricket matches, which can be enjoyed by players and spectators alike, at our magical home ground. We have consistently communicated to the cricket authorities that we do not favour any reduction of playing content (i.e. less cricket) as an outcome of the review and nothing has changed our minds, as the debate has matured and options put forward. We do, however, remain supportive of reducing congestion within the schedule and have provided some practical suggestions as to how this can be achieved. These suggestions include playing four-day cricket during August when The Hundred is on and ‘unblocking’ the Blast. So far, these suggestions have not been seriously considered.
You may have noticed one of the key motivations for a possible reduction in content is to ease player workload. We know that we have multi-format players at Somerset who need to have their workloads managed, both to mitigate injury and to enable them to perform at their best when listed to play. You will witness this frequently, particularly when fixtures fall close together. Whilst we know it is a topic of regular debate amongst fans, we would like to think that most trust and understand the reasoning even if they don’t agree with every decision. In short, we see workload management as a critical function of our Club, through our Sports Science & Medicine experts, in consultation with the players themselves and our coaches. It is not the job of the fixture schedule!
The workload of our dedicated staff is also a concern. That has become more of a challenge with the exciting development of women’s cricket in Somerset which has meant, for example, more pitches to prepare and more matches to steward. We are working to ensure that we are set up correctly for the 2026 season.
Regardless of these pressures, we are a Club united in our love of playing and hosting cricket.
England possesses one of the great cricket nurseries in the world, and this is largely due to its playing culture and the variety of playing opportunities available domestically. We believe this to be a really important point. Cricket is a game that you learn most of all by playing rather than training, and as we head into this new landscape of private investment, we must be very careful to not break irretrievably, the characteristics that have served the game so well for so long.
For completeness, the options currently under discussion can be summarised as follows:
Vitality Blast Proposal
There is currently only one, which is a tournament from mid-May through to July, finishing before the commencement of The Hundred.
This will consist of:
• Three regionalised groups of six, aiming to maintain rivalries (although perhaps our largest current rivalry against Surrey would be a victim of this new format).
• 12 matches per team (10 within-group, home and away, 2 inter-group).
• Quarter-Finals and Finals Day as per the existing model.
We have not been immune to a nationwide trend in declining Blast ticket sales across the past few seasons, but it remains a much-loved product at Taunton and critical to our business success. A suggested improvement has been ensuring that matches are scheduled at times that fans want to watch, as all venues have their preferred timeslots. The future success of T20 cricket demands this, above all else. However, a concession from ECB that a reduction in content does not actually guarantee better timeslots has reinforced our view that 14 Blast fixtures is an imperative for us.
In summary, we do not support this current proposal or, in fact, any reduction in Vitality Blast content, nor do we support a change from the current North/South format, which we believe has served the game so well. In our mind, the proposed model represents change for changes sake and risks further decline in what we know is a critical product. T20 cricket brings the Cooper Associates County Ground alive and is a key to us inspiring the South West through cricket and generating an annual business surplus.
Rothesay County Championship Proposals
Option 1
Maintain the current two-division system and 14 games, with a return to an eight-team 1st Division and ten-team 2nd Division, to raise the standard and add home and away symmetry to Division 1.
There are some complications in transition, and it is likely to be unpopular with any counties concerned about there being less opportunities in Division 1, but we support this as the model which provides the best competition and is, we believe, the fairest of the alternatives.
Option 2
Same as the current structure… but with less cricket! i.e. 10-team Division 1 and eight-team Division 2, but with a reduction to 12 games. We argue that, if preferred, this model can also be played across 14 games, as it is now! It is not a model we support however, as we believe any home and away symmetry belongs in Division 1.
Option 3
Two-tier conferences of six plus Finals Series (13 games). The top 12 teams are divided into two groups of six, each playing ten matches. The top three from each group then enter a brief September league to determine the champion. The remaining teams compete for promotion or relegation. Whilst this has supporters, the jury is out on whether this approach could actually be scheduled, due to the need to reset after 10 rounds, let alone being easy to follow for Members and supporters. As a consequence, we do not support this concept.
Option 4
Conference model with two groups of six in an upper division and a bottom group of six. Similar to Option 3, but the main difference is that it concludes with a single, winner-takes-all, match between the winner of conference A and conference B. It is easier to schedule and to follow than Option 3. One of the two most consistent teams in the country throughout the year will win the County Championship. Additionally, teams have a two in six chance of moving out of the bottom league.  We have argued that this model can easily scale up to 13 or 14 matches, which then just leaves the choice between preferring to play a final or having a league table. We do not support this as a 12-match option.
Option 5
Three groups of six teams with playoffs and 12 matches in total. There would be no promotion or relegation as all teams start the season with a chance to win the Championship. It resembles the model used during Covid, which was played regionally and also involved 14 matches. We like the fact that any of the First Class Counties can win at the start of the season but we do not support a reduction in matches.
As expressed, Option 1 is the only model which has support from Somerset CCC, and you may have read that there is at least one other quite powerful ally in this conversation.
Our position across both competitions is not a popular one but we feel it is important for us to stand strong behind something which supports our Club and region, particularly at a time of incredible change and uncertainty in the game.
Jamie Cox
SCCC CEO
Sir Michael Barber
SCCC CHAIR
