The ECB have rebuffed news reports which stated that they were considering creation of a 12-team Premier League.
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The ECB are set to launch a high performance review into the recent poor performance of the Test side. The team has won just of their last 17 Tests, and have gone five consecutive series without a win. They lost their first Test series at home since 2014 last year, are trailing India 1-2 in the Pataudi Trophy and got thrashed 0-4 Down Under in the Ashes. Recently, they lost the inaugural Richards-Botham Trophy 0-1 to West Indies.
There were reports in the Telegraph that the ECB were looking to overhaul the present structure of first-class county cricket and create a 12-team Premier League, with each side playing every other once. According to the report, there was to be a second tier too, where six teams were to play each other twice, both home and away.
The report went into some detail, mooting the possibility of a compensation system to reward teams who produce quality players, and confirming that, under the proposal, all counties would retain first-class status. But the ECB have poured cold water on the suggested innovation, suggesting that reports of “any specific ideas about domestic structures” are mere speculation.
“The high performance review has not yet started so to suggest that any specific ideas about domestic structures are being proposed by the ECB is not true,” an ECB spokesperson said. “Any speculation about the domestic structure beyond this season should be treated as such. We will share further details on the review process in due course.”
