Pressure is building on the ECB to reverse its decision to reschedule the washout between Worcestershire and Kent after a majority of first division counties asked them to rethink. Yorkshire, the league leaders, have drafted a formal letter that Durham, Lancashire, Hampshire and Sussex have all agreed to sign.
With second division counties also approached, Yorkshire are confident that more than half the 18 clubs overall will be united against the move to allow the contest that was abandoned without a ball being bowled last week to take place from July 30 to August 3. An ECB appeals committee may meet as early as next week.
Sympathy for Kent, who arrived to find a ground unfit for play, is balanced by a sense of unfairness that Worcestershire, having decided not to move to Kidderminster for financial reasons, should have a second chance to earn points that could be the difference between survival and relegation.
Counties supporting the Yorkshire initiative say that the ECB should have consulted more widely before the management committee voted by teleconference. Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, said: “We are not coming in with a sledge-hammer on a legal point. We are just asking the ECB to reconsider for strong operational reasons.
“There is a view that we cannot sit back and let the ECB take a decision which could have a bearing on the outcome of the championship. There is a lot of disquiet about this.”
Advertisement
Martyn Moxon, the Yorkshire coach, said: “Worcestershire messed up and have got away with it.”
Regan is also puzzled because the previous week the ECB reaffirmed that counties could not switch Twenty20 games outside their boundaries. Worcestershire’s NatWest Pro40 game against Hampshire last night was reallocated to Derby.
“There appears to be a lack of consistency in the whole management of our competitions,” Regan said. Gus Mackay, the Sussex chief executive, added: “We are all in this together and I think we have a very strong case.”