https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/richard-thompson-pledges-to-resolve-worst-game-of-jenga-in-focus-on-county-schedule-1333642

Richard Thompson pledges to resolve 'worst game of Jenga' in focus on County schedule
New ECB chair admits his view on Hundred has evolved after resistance during Surrey stint

Vithushan Ehantharajah
08-Sep-2022

Richard Thompson, the new chair of the ECB, speaking outside The Oval in 2021
Richard Thompson, the new chair of the ECB, speaking outside The Oval in 2021 • Getty Images

New ECB chair Richard Thompson has described the current County schedule as "the worst game of Jenga ever", and has promised to ensure the County Championship holds its own in the jostle with three other formats in the English season.

Thompson, formerly chair at Surrey, began a five-year term in his role at the start of August. The first item in his inbox, as he put it in an introductory blog on the ECB website, is to push through the proposed changes to the domestic game put forward by the high performance review being overseen by Andrew Strauss, chair of the Performance Cricket Committee.

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Speaking at the Kia Oval on the opening day of the third Test between England and South Africa, Thompson insisted that first-class cricket needs to be the best product it can possibly be. For that, he says, it needs consistency. Any new schedule will only be in place for 2024, with next summer set to follow the same pattern of 2022.

"I do not want to diminish the red-ball competition," Thompson said. "For me, it's the gold standard. It's where you make history, where you define your career. But I think we kind of get fixated on volume and not schedule.

"If you knew every championship match is going to start on the Thursday, there will be a rhythm, but our season never has a rhythm. Every other sport has a rhythm and a pattern to it. And so whatever comes out of this there has to be a schedule and a rhythm to the season that I have not experienced in 12 years."

That Thompson occupies the position he does now has comforted many county traditionalists. During his chairmanship at Surrey, which began in 2011, he consistently took principled stances against the ECB, notably in 2018 when he was the only county chair to vote against the Hundred. To many, he is an ally, though he admits his new role requires greater diplomacy.

Read more at https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/richard-thompson-pledges-to-resolve-worst-game-of-jenga-in-focus-on-county-schedule-1333642

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