The ECB have today announced the result of a countywide vote on a proposal to play a remodelled 13-match Rothesay County Championship season, with the proposal not receiving the required majority of votes from the PCCs to affect change.
Stuart Cain, Warwickshire CEO, said: “It’s great to have clarity on the long-term format of the County Championship before we begin the final round of games.
“It’s also good to remove the distraction of talking about structure, allowing us to focus our efforts on building a winning red ball team and promoting the competition with renewed vigour.
“Thank you to the Members’ Committee for the time and diligence they’ve dedicated to this, and the wider Membership for their views and opinions. One positive to come out of this is the desire of those on the Committee to further strengthen links with the Members they serve, and they’ve already discussed a number of initiatives for next season that will hopefully help achieve this.”
Read below for the ECB’s full press release.
The Professional County Cricket Clubs (PCCs) have voted on the future format of the Rothesay County Championship.
A proposal to play a remodelled 13-match Rothesay County Championship did not receive the required majority of votes from the PCCs to affect change.
The decision follows a county-led review into the structure of the men’s county competitions.
The review, which was staged in consultation with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), made proposals for changes to the Rothesay County Championship, Vitality Blast men’s competition and Metro Bank One-Day Cup men’s competition.
The PCCs agreed, via a vote in July, to alter the format of the Vitality Blast men’s competition when the review’s proposals did receive the required majority for change.
From next season, the Vitality Blast men’s competition will be staged over 12 group-stage matches with counties moving into three groups of six.
The competition will also be played in a block before The Hundred, to enable a better competition narrative, with the 2026 Vitality Blast Men’s Finals Day confirmed for Saturday 18 July at Edgbaston.
A second vote was held this week regarding the county-led review’s proposal to play a 13-match Rothesay County Championship – featuring a 12-county ‘Championship’ and six-county ‘Championship Two’ – which included increasing the men’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup to 10 group-stage matches.
The result of the vote means that the Rothesay County Championship will remain at 14 matches, with Division One consisting of 10 counties and Division Two consisting of eight counties.
The same promotion and relegation mechanic also applies with the bottom two counties in Division One relegated, and the top two in Division Two promoted.
The Metro Bank One-Day Cup men’s competition also retains the same format, with each county playing eight group-stage matches in two groups of nine.
The outcome of the vote was shared with the PCCs yesterday evening to ensure that all players, support staff and supporters were aware prior to the start of the final round of matches in the Rothesay County Championship.