ECB warns there is “no silver bullet” to fix county cricket after Ashes humbling

ECB chief Neil Snowball admitted they have failed to “get the balance right” between red and white-ball cricket

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The ECB ‘s managing director of county cricket Neil Snowball has warned there is “no silver bullet” which can address all the concerns about domestic English cricket which have been highlighted in the wake of England ‘s 4-0 defeat to Australia in the Ashes.

The ECB have finally announced the county fixture list for the upcoming season, which is set to get underway in April.

More County Championship games will be played in June and July following calls for more first-class cricket to be played in the height of the summer.

Snowball believes the new schedule is “a step forward from last year”, but admitted county cricket needs to undergo a “comprehensive review”.

He said: “The fixture schedule is a step forward from last year but don’t expect this schedule to be everything that we need it to be to address some of the challenges of red-ball cricket.

“We know there’s no silver bullet, all of the different things that we need to consider have been talked about a lot – whether it’s what type of ball we use, what type of pitches we play on, the format of competitions, etc.

“It needs a comprehensive review. I think there’s a feeling that we haven’t got the balance right [between the formats] at the moment and that’s what we need to look at.

“We need to get the first-class counties, the ECB, the PCA and the other stakeholders together and then work out a plan through this year hopefully so that we can start making some changes from 2023. But there’s absolute commitment to do that.”

Snowball admitted the ECB have failed to “get the balance right” between red and white-ball cricket, but insisted they remain committed to first-class and Test cricket.

“There’s no doubt that there was a lot of time and effort invested after 2015 in our one-day team that went on to win the World Cup,” he said.

“But there continues to be a big focus and investment in red-ball and Test cricket. We’ve got to look at getting the balance right.

“There’s a feeling we haven’t got the balance right at the moment, and that’s what we need to look at.”