Glamorgan's Harris warns Championship cut needed

James Harris became the youngest bowler to take a Championship wicket for Glamorgan, aged just 16 years, in 2007

As Glamorgan round off their first block of County Championship fixtures, their most experienced player in the competition, James Harris, says a cut in four-day games is needed to keep up standards.

A cut from 14 to 12 is being discussed, but is widely opposed by county members across the United Kingdom following a series of reductions in red-ball cricket over the decades.

"There's a potential we might go down... to 12 first-class games," said Harris, the former chair of the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).

"The schedule's really tough and the amount of recovery people get to put performances in is probably not enough."

Counties play Championship games in seven out of the eight weeks at the start of the season, before a more fragmented pattern combining limited-overs and a few four-day games through until the end of August.

The schedule has been further complicated by the arrival of the lucrative franchised Hundred competition, which is due to bring tens of millions of pounds into the sport in England and Wales through external investment, and runs alongside the counties' One Day Cup 50-overs competition.

Seven Glamorgan players played in all the first six four-day matches, although three of the games ended a day early.

"Just being on the treadmill and playing all the time is not conducive to high performance for everybody," warned Harris, whose pre-season calf injury caused him to miss four matches and increased the workload on his experienced fast-bowling colleagues.

"You end up in weeks like this where it's just a case of whoever is fit in whatever team around the country (plays). There has to be give and take with all the extra T20 cricket, white-ball cricket, the Hundred and everything else.

"We might have to give up a couple of Championship games to make sure the game is fit and healthy for everybody, and we find the best schedule to produce the highest standard."

But with counties typically carrying staff of 18-22 players, why not just rest individuals rather than have the team sidelined?

"It's a lovely idea, but it depends on the size of a club's staff and their seam-bowling group. It's really hard to rest someone when you're on a roll and playing well. Fans want to see the best possible team every week if they can," Harris told BBC Sport Wales.

Glamorgan director of cricket Mark Wallace, who played 230 consecutive Championship games between 2001 and 2015, told a recent members' forum that they needed to listen to players, but that the effect of fewer games could be a reduction in professional numbers.

Harris does not expect that to happen: "I'd be surprised, squads have grown a little bit because of the way the Hundred has impacted on a few (county) teams who lose a lot to the Hundred.

"You're still going to have injuries; of any seam-bowling group you could have two or three out at any one time."

Glamorgan's seventh Championship match, against Middlesex in Cardiff, is due to run between Friday, 23 May and Monday, 26 May.

The men's squad then has a few days to prepare for the T20 format, with a friendly against Wiltshire in Swindon on Friday, 30 May before the first competitive game against Middlesex at Northwood on Sunday, 1 June.

Both fixtures are double-headers with the newly established Glamorgan women's team.