Glamorgan Cricket: County expect 2021 conference set-up

Sophia Gardens missed out on hosting England's T20 game with Pakistan in August 2020

Glamorgan are expecting a conference system to be used again for four-day cricket in 2021.

The three conferences were used to replace first and second divisions to create a shortened 2020 fixture-list.

"It's the view of the counties and the ECB that a conference format would be appropriate for next year," chairman Gareth Williams told a members' forum.

"That will work next year in less of a regional format.. with a comprehensive review at the end of it."

It is expected the 2021 groups will be seeded on recent performances, rather than decided geographically to cut down travelling.

The conference system gives all 18 counties the chance of winning the tournament, with teams playing 10 group matches against their five opponents, followed by four further games in September against teams with a similar ranking in the other conferences.

Just five four-day games were played in the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic meaning county cricket did not start until 1 August, nearly four months late.

Williams says the future financial stability of the county game depends on international fixtures and the Hundred franchise tournament, which includes a Welsh-based team, taking place in 2021.

"If that happens, we are reasonably confident we will have a degree of financial security going forward," said Williams.

"We are reasonably optimistic we will be able to survive unless something staggering happens."

Glamorgan and the 17 English counties are still getting regular payments from the England and Wales Cricket Board after the televising of international games and T20 Blast matches kept the sport's finances alive.

Glamorgan played all their games behind closed doors in 2020, although they picked up nearly 600,0000 views of a video streaming system including BBC commentary for games at Sophia Gardens.

"Fingers crossed the virus will be contained or we have a vaccine (by April)," chief executive Hugh Morris told the online meeting.

"We all want members back at Sophia Gardens."

The club has been granted a coronavirus business loan of £700,000, which it will use from December in the absence of the conference income which the club usually generates during the winter, and is also applying for other government funding.

"We will have a smaller playing staff, and we've had job cuts across all departments, warned Morris.

"The position is as positive as we could have hoped for in these circumstances.

"The critical issue is if we're in this situation again next summer. If we can't play in front of crowds it's going to be a real problem, not only for us but for the whole of our sport."