Just to point out one flaw in George's argument- any Player whose County accepts the jurisdiction of a board other than their Home board of control [the ECB] or any Player independently playing under another jurisdiction cannot be prevented from playing cricket in the UK[Woolmer v. Test and County Cricket Board]- but can be barred from playing for England- ie. the pirate tours to Saffer of the 80s.

What player gives up the right to play for the Ashes? Be it the Packer or the Saffer rebels, all had had glory and then wanted cash. You simply do not do it the other way round.

Franchise cricket ? No surer way to kill off interest in cricket. Manufactured results by manufactured teams with no rivalry or tradition to speak of.

Agreed...I can't imagine myself supporting any merger with the Bears.

Occasional matches as a collective- well, there is a precedent...during World War Two, Middlesex/Essex and Surrey/Kent merged for the duration and played with combined squads against each other- but even then stayed separate for matches against the Forces, Met Police and their own county leagues etc.

WBB, I'm delighted that we agree. The thought of going to Edgbaston to watch some " pick n' mix " regionalised outfit play another - no thanks.

I've said on here for over a year now that we can expect some regionalisation for some form of the game.

My bet is for T20- and with Gloucs. Stick an occasional match at Colwall or Luctonians and call us the Three Counties Bulls- because Bull markets are the successful ones and the Bear markets are the flops!

...but only if we have to. And not for the Championship. And heavens- not with the Bears!

"And heavens- not with the Bears""

Come om WBB. You'like us when you get to know us. Our optimism amd sense of fun will win you over. We have a little competition every year about when the first despairing cry of "come on Warwick" will come echoing out of the stands.

The 2007 season (it came after the 4th ball of the season's first over) remains the benchmark.

We really do need to sign this chap up long-term: make him well and truly part of the furniture at New Road.

Thanks for the post Kim. Interesting stuff from Tulip there, particularly that he sees himself as more Namibian than Dutch. Plus, it looks as though he'll play for Worcs instead of Holland if there are any fixture clashes.

But I've still got big concerns over this guy making it, don't know why. I hope I'm wrong. But if he does score a 1st Class century in the county championship I'll personally deliver a bunch of tulips flowers of his choice to the guy.

Re. threatened counties

The England team will face a major cut in funding and four counties will disappear if home Ashes series are preserved for free-to-air television, a report has warned

Several articles on this subject but only the Telegraph suggest a number. Nobody is naming names.

Quote:

The usual suspects, however, like Northants, Leicestershire and Derbyshire, are unlikely to be the ones to go the wall. Those counties operate at profit, but it is some of the larger Test-ground counties who are footing the bill for ground-expansion projects that would be most at risk if the ECB figures are an accurate portrait of a future without Sky’s millions

So, not the usual suspects then???

Who (profitable or otherwise?) is in the gang of four?

Yorks?, Warks?, Lancs? all in debt and all undergoing redevelopment?

I wouldn't expect the ECB to do anything else than 'scare' people with worst case scenarios. In fact, they're so concerned about the loss of TV revenue that they spend an eyewatering £500,000 to prove their figures.

If revenue drops, then you cut costs accordingly. Touch decisions. But they just want the easy money, period. In the past I would have been concerned but not any more. All I see is a sport with more cash than ever before and yet clubs have higher debts and losses than before. Madness.

Meanwhile, while don't the ECB look at the other key numbers. When Sky showed the last Ashes the average daily audience was 438,000. When the BBC showed the 2005 Ashes they pulled 2.2m per day. That's an extra 1.8m people who will be inspired to watch their local county team play, join a local club etc.

I heard that if the ashes tests go to Sky then the county system will have to be cut back to 6 teams, cricket will be abandoned by all schools and the England team will all have to share one cricket bat.

Kent would be strong favourites while, of the test grounds, I dont fancy our chances. Thought Brearley talked a lot of sense:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/mar/21/sky-limit-ashes-tests

Ridiculous.

We never had this debate before $ky telly.

Cricketers will have to go back to earning just over what the average working man does, instead of 12 times the amount