National Counties Cricket Association 2020
The Structure
The Championship, that still plays a key part in the playing calendar, is moving away from a ten-team league in the Eastern and Western divisions. There will now be 2 leagues of 5 in each division, with promotion and relegation, for the bottom side in Division 1 and top team in Division 2. This two-division approach will bring more competition ensuring the top teams are playing against each other, with the winners of Division 1 in each region playing the in the Championship Final.
The One Day Trophy and T20 Competition will both be played in a group format with 5 teams across 4 groups. The winners of each of the 4 T20 groups will take part in the T20 Finals day and the top 2 teams across the 4 One Day groups will progress on to a knock out stage with quarter finals, semi-finals and ultimately the One Day Final.
Young Local Talent is Key
This new structure will provide greater opportunities for younger players to get involved and represent their county. New governance introduced this year requires each county to play 8 players with an average of under 25 and 8 players that are ‘Home Grown’.This places greater focus on the development of talented local cricketers. We have also worked hard to minimise clashes with first-class cricket to enable ourtalented young NCCA players to seize openings within the first-class county pathway.
NCCA Website – https://nationalcountiesca.co.uk/