We today can confirm that following an extensive consultation process between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Professional County Clubs (PCCs), which concluded yesterday, there will be no changes made to the men’s domestic County Championship or One-Day Cup playing schedules from 2026 onwards.
Yesterday afternoon, the Chairs of all 18 PCCs voted on the ECB’s proposed changes to reduce the volume of four-day County Championship cricket being played within the men’s playing schedule.
For any changes to be voted through, a two-thirds majority of votes was required to support the proposed changes, however the ECB have today released a statement confirming that this threshold was not met, and as a result, there will be no enforced changes to the playing schedules for 2026 in either the Rothesay County Championship or the Metro Bank One-Day Cup competitions.
Middlesex County Cricket Club would like to go on record in thanking our members, our players, and our wider stakeholder group for working with us in close consultation throughout this lengthy process, and we are pleased that the outcome of the Chairs’ voting process supports the views of both the Club and that of our collective stakeholders.
Today, we begin the final match of the 2025 domestic season thankfully with clarity on what the 2026 season looks like, which after yesterday’s vote, will mirror this season’s split County Championship structure, of 10 counties competing in Division One, and eight competing in Division Two, with each county playing 14 red-ball matches across the season - seven at home and seven away.
The Metro Bank One-Day Cup also remains unchanged, with an equal split of nine counties in two groups, with each county playing eight group matches ahead of the knockout stages of the competition – four at home and four away.
Earlier this season the ECB had already confirmed that the Vitality Blast schedule would see changes in 2026, with two less games being played – reduced from 14 matches to 12 – six at home and six away, and the groups being regionalised.
In summary, we are pleased that this process has been satisfactorily concluded and have at all times maintained our position, in complete alignment with our stakeholders, that we be against supporting any reduction to the County Championship playing schedule. We are therefore pleased to confirm the news the ECB has published today.
Please see below links to both the ECB and Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) statements release earlier today.
