Cricket must “look at the schedule” of a “unrelenting” calendar, with some players “obviously exhausted” this summer, says England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Richard Thompson.
This year’s Hundred competition got under way the day after a thrilling England men’s Test series against India finished, with some players missing the opening round of games.
“Cricket arguably does play too much,” Thompson told BBC Sport.
“We’re the only sport to have a World Cup every year, which I personally think is too much.”
England batters Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith have been rested from the ongoing T20 series against South Africa, less than six months before a World Cup in the format.
Both they and Harry Brook have played all 15 international fixtures to date for England this summer, along with the Hundred last month.
“We want the best players playing as much as possible, but you need to find balance, both at a domestic as well as an international level,” said Thompson, who was speaking at the opening of the country’s second all-weather cricket ‘dome’ in Darwen, Lancashire.
‘Creaking bodies’
England drew the Test series against India 2-2, and Thompson accepts the closely fought contest took its toll.
The series began on 20 June and ended on 4 August, with all five Test matches lasting five days.
“I’m not surprised some of the players were obviously exhausted… I can’t ever remember a five-Test series going five days in every Test,” Thompson said.
“This was a one-off in the sense of ensuring the players actually had the ability to get to the end of it. But yes, there were some creaking bodies.
“We have to look at the schedule. We’re reducing the number of T20 Blast games we’re playing. We’re looking to potentially reduce the amount of Championship cricket.”
In July, research by players’ union the PCA found 83% of players expressed concerns about their physical wellbeing, with 67% concerned about their mental wellbeing because of the volume and intensity of domestic cricket. It demanded “urgent schedule reform”., external
Teams will play two fewer games in the group stages of the Blast from next year, reducing the number of matches from 14 to 12, with counties yet to decide how to revamp the championship.
“I think there’s a broad understanding, as much from player welfare as anything, that we don’t want to burn players out,” said Thompson.
Some of the Hundred’s new investors have made clear they expect their England players to be available throughout next year’s competition. Next year the Hundred is set to start two days after a one-day international (ODI) series against India and three days before the first Test against Pakistan.
Thompson says scheduling more space either side of the event will have to wait until 2028 when the next TV rights cycle starts.
“This Hundred investment has come when we’re actually in the middle of a rights path that we can’t change. So we’re only three years away from being able to ensure there is a gap at the beginning and end of that period, so there isn’t a situation where the players are exhausted.”
Just two days after the end of this year’s Hundred, an unprepared England began their ODI contest against South Africa, and a 2-1 defeat means they have lost five of their past six series in the format since the 2023 World Cup.
“Whether it’s in 50-over format or T20 format, we have a World Cup every year, so we have an exam to sit that does put white-ball players actually under more pressure,” said Thompson.
“Where rugby or football wait every four years, we come each year, so it’s pretty unrelenting for those players. But I’m not at all worried that we’re going into a fallow period, we’ll come through this.”