THOMAS LORD SUITE | 26TH JUNE 2025
Last night, in the Thomas Lord Suite at Lord’s, Middlesex hosted its mid-season members’ forum and a Special General Meeting (SGM) – with the primary focus of both meetings being to discuss the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB’s) current review into the structure of the domestic playing schedule from 2026 onwards. The meetings formed part of the Club’s ongoing process of consultation with members and stakeholders around the matter.
The meeting was Chaired by Club Chair, Richard Sykes, with Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Cornish, and Director of Cricket, Alan Coleman, joining him on the top table panel.
The meeting was live streamed for those unable to attend, and our thanks go to the hundred or more members who took the time to join us at Lord’s last night for both parts of the meeting.
Throughout the members’ forum, held first from 6pm, Alan Coleman provided members with an on-field update on how the Club’s squads were progressing through the season, before providing an update on the latest issues being discussed and debated with the ECB by the Professional County Clubs, and talked members through the various latest options for the schedule that are being talked through. He then presented a more detailed analysis of the recent Members’ survey, in which more than 1,100 members provided their thoughts and views on the domestic playing schedule, and gave some insight into the current Middlesex squad’s views on the matter.
He then presented the Club’s thoughts and current considerations around the ECB’s latest thinking as to what the domestic schedule might look like and clearly outlined the ‘Red Line’ areas that the Club would be against, before then taking questions from the floor, which were answered by all three on the panel.
The forum was brought to a close at a little before 7.45pm before attention then turned to the formal matters of the SGM, with three resolutions to be voted on.
The SGM had been called in answer to a petition by just over 100 members of Middlesex, who had put forward two resolutions for the members to vote on at the SGM. A third resolution was added by the Club’s Board, which like the first two resolutions, would be voted on at the meeting.
Richard Sykes went through each of the proposals in turn, with Paul Macintyre, the member who represented the petitioners, then also given the opportunity to address the meeting and present the petitioners’ rationale behind the opening two resolutions they’d put forward, before members were then asked to vote on each of the three resolutions. The voting on each of the three resolutions was as follows:
Resolution One – by the members - “The Club shall oppose any proposal reducing the number of County Championship games.”
FOR: 620
AGAINST: 101
ABSTAIN: 33
Resolution Two – by the members - “The Club shall oppose any proposal reducing the number of T20 Blast games.”
FOR: 407
AGAINST: 189
ABSTAIN: 158
Resolution Three – by the Club’s Board - “The Board of Middlesex County Cricket Club shall give serious consideration to the views of individual and affiliated members when determining the Club’s position on any proposed changes to the domestic cricket structure.”
FOR: 590
AGAINST: 82
ABSTAIN: 83
Members voted in favour of all three resolutions, however the Board cannot be bound by the first two resolutions, which was explained to members at the SGM last night. The Club will issue a statement to explain the legal position on this in the near future.
Members will be able to read a full transcript of the Forum and Special General meeting in the coming few days, when this will be uploaded into the Members’ Hub section of the website, as will the full results of the recent Members’ survey.
Our thanks again go to all members for taking part in this important part of our ongoing consultation process with members and we will ensure members are kept up to date on any important further developments as they happen.
