Championship scheduling

I’m just wondering if there is any official/confirmed reason for the scheduling of the Championship in September?

Having seen almost none of it since May, it would be nice to watch some Championship cricket before the winter sets in, but there is precisely one day of play at the weekend all month.

Even accounting for the one day final, it would be simple to schedule most of the rounds to cross at least partly into the weekend. Why the final round can’t be played Thurs-Sun, even if that means finishing on 1 October, doesn’t seem clear to me either.

Is this simply a case of the ECB and counties assuming no one is interested come September? Or that the only people who would attend are the retired members who only wish to attend on weekdays (although at Surrey I’d suggest members of retirement age are a minority).

Just curious if anyone can shed any further light on it.

MatthewC wrote:I’m just wondering if there is any official/confirmed reason for the scheduling of the Championship in September?

Having seen almost none of it since May, it would be nice to watch some Championship cricket before the winter sets in, but there is precisely one day of play at the weekend all month.

Even accounting for the one day final, it would be simple to schedule most of the rounds to cross at least partly into the weekend. Why the final round can’t be played Thurs-Sun, even if that means finishing on 1 October, doesn’t seem clear to me either.

Is this simply a case of the ECB and counties assuming no one is interested come September? Or that the only people who would attend are the retired members who only wish to attend on weekdays (although at Surrey I’d suggest members of retirement age are a minority).

Just curious if anyone can shed any further light on it.

Probably more retired Members watch the Championship than other groups.

Matches are always scheduled in September, or have been for some time now. The reason there are three is because of the large gaps in the schedule. i.e. no games at all in August because of the Hundread. This year there was 2 in July but for years the Championship was played in April, May, September with maybe 2 games between June and July. Of course 4 competitons in the domestic season simply don't fit. Then some people and the ECB wonder why we've got no decent spinners in county cricket!
As for no weekends. God knows. Why couldn't Sunday's game start Saturday? And the last game could easily encompass the weekend before. It's ridiculous to finish in October, the light falls too quickly.
Remember if you go its a 10.30 start for that very reason.

Chinaman wrote:

MatthewC wrote:I’m just wondering if there is any official/confirmed reason for the scheduling of the Championship in September?

Having seen almost none of it since May, it would be nice to watch some Championship cricket before the winter sets in, but there is precisely one day of play at the weekend all month.

Even accounting for the one day final, it would be simple to schedule most of the rounds to cross at least partly into the weekend. Why the final round can’t be played Thurs-Sun, even if that means finishing on 1 October, doesn’t seem clear to me either.

Is this simply a case of the ECB and counties assuming no one is interested come September? Or that the only people who would attend are the retired members who only wish to attend on weekdays (although at Surrey I’d suggest members of retirement age are a minority).

Just curious if anyone can shed any further light on it.

Probably more retired Members watch the Championship than other groups.

Matches are always scheduled in September, or have been for some time now. The reason there are three is because of the large gaps in the schedule. i.e. no games at all in August because of the Hundread. This year there was 2 in July but for years the Championship was played in April, May, September with maybe 2 games between June and July. Of course 4 competitons in the domestic season simply don't fit. Then some people and the ECB wonder why we've got no decent spinners in county cricket!
As for no weekends. God knows. Why couldn't Sunday's game start Saturday? And the last game could easily encompass the weekend before. It's ridiculous to finish in October, the light falls too quickly.
Remember if you go its a 10.30 start for that very reason.

There are four rounds of championship  matches in September.

I suppose we are now back in the football season and a proportion of our supporters have season tickets which they will prioritise. I find it much more infuriating when there is no weekend championship cricket during matches in late May, June and July.

Do they leave Saturday free so that fringe players,instead of hanging around all day running on drinks and the never ending supply of other wants and needs,can play for their clubs?

The thing is all the early matches in April and May, around 6, were Thurs to Sun encompassing the weekend. And I think  you'll find statistically Saturday is the least attended. Why? Football. Ok some will come for the morning and then go to the football pm, but  weekend cricket, especially Saturday, increased attendance isn't true. Look at some Monday attendances- far more But really in September there is no reason why they can't play at the weekend, at least to give non football fans more opportunity to come.

We are only playing 3 rounds though not 4.
.

Sorry, I was talking about the schedule in general having four rounds in September. A number of other counties are playing in all four.

I guess we are lucky that this year we are playing at home at the beginning of September, when the forecast looks good. Most years early-September home fixtures won't be an option because the Oval test match overlaps. So there's at least one benefit of the Ashes being wrapped up by the end of July to accommodate the you-know-what.

Badges wrote:Do they leave Saturday free so that fringe players,instead of hanging around all day running on drinks and the never ending supply of other wants and needs,can play for their clubs?

I seem to remember that making club cricket stronger was cited as a reason/excuse for keeping Saturdays free about ten years ago. But the schedulings changed numerous times since then.