Several key updates have been announced to the regulations for the domestic game in England ahead of the start of the 2023 season.
The changes have come about as a result of the Men’s High Performance Review, which was released by the ECB in September last year. It aimed to set the foundations for England Men’s team to become the best in the world across all formats over the next five years – while also fostering an environment for the domestic game to flourish.
One of the biggest changes coming to the red ball domestic scene is the use of the Kookaburra ball in two rounds of the County Championship. Historically the Dukes ball has been used in both international and domestic cricket in England, but the Kookaburra – which has a less prominent seam and loses its shape quicker – is used in most of the Southern hemisphere countries.
The Kookaburra will be used in rounds nine and ten of the competition which are scheduled to be played from June 25-28 and July 10-13. The thought process behind this change comes from England men’s struggles against the Kookaburra ball in their three consecutive Ashes series defeats in Australia.
There have also been changes announced regarding the number of points awarded for County Championship results. The points awarded for a win will remain at 16, however the points for a draw are to be reduced from eight to five. Batting bonus points will now be achieved by scoring between 250 and 450 runs, rather than between 200 and 400. There has been no change made to bowling bonus points.
The regulations around overseas players have also been changed, with the number of overseas players allowed to be registered to a county at any one time increased from three to four. As the County Championship and T20 Blast competitions will overlap, this will allow counties to field two overseas players in their matches.
While there is no official update on pitch regulations, it has been made clear that the objective is for surfaces to allow every aspect of the game to flourish.
Despite the England men’s Test team’s dramatic turnaround since their 4-0 Ashes defeat in 2021/22 and the success of the white-ball team in winning the T20 World Cup, the ECB’s head of first-class cricket operations, Alan Fordham, has made clear the changes which the High Performance Review set out are still needed.
“[Stokes and McCullum] is microcosm stuff,” he said. “What we want to create is sustained success that lasts for generations, for aeons, not success which relies on good chemistry between captain and coach that we are all seeing now. We don’t have to go too far back to see that the system has generated poor results.”
