County Championship to trial Kookaburra ball in 2023 as bonus points system re-vamped
- Published
Surrey clinched their 20th outright County Championship title last summer
The County Championship will see a revamp of the batting points system and the trial use of a Kookaburra ball during the 2023 season.
Points for a draw will revert back to five from the eight introduced in 2019, batting points will be awarded from 250 runs, up from the current 200, to a maximum of five for totals of 450.
The number of points for a win remains unchanged at 16.
The Kookaburra ball will be used in two rounds of games in June and July.
The adjustments to the new season have been made following former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss' high-performance review of the men's game, announced in September with the intention of improving the fortunes of the England team.
With the Kookaburra ball offering less movement to bowlers, its introduction in place of the more seamer-friendly Dukes ball is designed to level out the contest between bat and ball and prepare England players better for tours to places where use of the Kookaburra is more common such as Australia and South Africa.
Two rounds of Championship matches, on 25-28 June and 10-13 July, will pilot its use, with the dates picked deliberately during this summer's Ashes series because all 18 counties will be in action.
Batters being encouraged to attack
The number of points given for draws goes back to pre-pandemic levels after it was raised to eight to encourage counties to prepare better pitches.
But, together with the increase in the thresholds for batting points, the new changes have been brought in to put the emphasis on attacking play, mirroring the swashbuckling style England have adopted under Test captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendan McCullum.
Bowling points will remain unchanged with a maximum of three available - at three, six and nine wickets down.
Teams will still having 110 overs in each first innings to accrue both batting and bonus points.
One of the most controversial of Strauss' proposals - the reduction in the number of Championship fixtures from 14 to 10 with a smaller six-team first division - is unlikely to be implemented in the short-term with two-thirds of the counties needing to support any changes.
No major structure changes for 2023 and 2024
Managing director of county cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, Neil Snowball, said although the "principles of finding a coherent schedule is still valid" there was "no big decision yet to be made".
"We are sticking with the volume of 2023, most likely roll through to 2024," he added.
"There are a couple of bits around promotion and relegation, we have those ongoing, but I don't foresee anything dramatic happening."
One further tweak for this coming season will see counties able to register four overseas signings at any one time. Although only two will be able to play per match, it will give clubs some flexibility when red-ball and white-ball matches overlap.