In the County Championship all sides will still play 16 matches in 2016. However this could quite easily not have been the case and it is still possible that we could see a reduction to 14 or even 12 matches in the near future. I hope that this will not happen but I fear that it might.
Northamptonshire won the Twenty20 Cup in 2013 and finished as runners-up last season. The pedigree of the team in this competition is there for all to see. Additionally the (currently 7) home matches provide the club with a very important source of revenue. Unfortunately there are renewed calls for T20 to be revamped into an event similar to those in Australia and India. Where exactly this would leave Northamptonshire is uncertain. Would our best players be pulled into the squads of the participating teams? Would the county still receive income despite not staging any matches? Will there be a subsidiary competition and what will the public interest be in this? Whatever the answers to these questions it appears that the idea of an ‘EPL’ will not go away.
Therefore I suggest that we make the best of what we have in 2016 in county cricket. These may become ‘the good old days’.
On a more positive note it is great to hear that the Club’s finances are in a much better position than twelve months ago. No doubt we will learn more details relating to finances at the AGM.
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