Our thanks go to the 1,100+ members who took time to provide us with their feedback in our latest Members’ survey, which focussed on the ECB’s current review of the domestic playing schedule for 2026 onwards.
A more detailed analysis of the survey will be presented and discussed at the forthcoming Members’ Forum and SGM on 26th June 2025, however, please see below a summarised top-line view on the feedback provided by members.
The survey focussed on five main areas, as follows:
1. Which, of the three main cricketing formats, do our members prefer?
(Members were asked to specify how much they value each format of the game by providing a score between 0 and 10, with 0 being least valued and 10 being most valued)
County Championship
Vote of 0-5 - 1%
Vote of 6 to 8 - 7%
Vote of 9 to 10 - 92%
T20 Blast
Vote of 0-5 - 38%
Vote of 6 to 8 - 43%
Vote of 9 to 10 - 19%
One-Day Cup
Vote of 0-5 - 19%
Vote of 6 to 8 - 51%
Vote of 9 to 10 - 31%
Question Two – is the current volume of Cricket (78 days out of the 178 days in the season) too much/little/about right?
Far too little cricket being played - 7%
Too Little cricket being played - 25%
Volume of cricket is about right - 55%
Too much cricket being played - 13%
Question Three – within the existing 78 playing days – how should that – ideally – be split by format?
Nearly all Members want either the same number of Championship games (45%) or 1-2 more games (44%). Almost all the remainder (7%) want even more Championship games than that. To find the extra match days Members were much more likely to sacrifice T20 games than One Day Cup.
We also asked respondents to do the same exercise on two hypothetically reduced formats – first with 74 days and then just 70 days cricket across the whole season. In both scenarios, the overwhelming desire for red ball cricket remained, whatever happened.
Question Four – what format do Members believe should be played alongside the Hundred?
66% of Middlesex Members would favour playing Championship cricket in August compared to 54% favouring the current arrangement of One Day Cup.
At 32% the lowest number favoured T20 alongside the Hundred.
Looking at the other end of the scale – just a quarter of Members would be against playing red ball at the same time vs 19% against the current arrangement.
Question Five – how would changes in the number of Games played by format impact membership renewal?
To answer this question, we asked Members how likely they were to renew on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 being “would certainly not renew” and 10 being “would certainly renew”).
If schedule remained the same: Average score of 7.5
If schedule included more Championship cricket: Average score of 7.7
If schedule included less Championship cricket: Average score of 4
