The ECB is reportedly set to launch a new review into the County game this winter, after two seasons of Covid-affected cricket.
Back in 2018, an ECB-commissioned review led by then Leicestershire chief Wasim Khan suggested flipping the County Championship split from eight teams in division one and 10 teams in division two to 10 in division one and eight in division two.
Speaking to the Cricketer in 2019, Khan explained: "We found the optimal solution was keeping the divisional structure, which more than 80 per cent of the players wanted.
"A lot of the people who wanted a conference structure were willing to compromise and go down the divisional route, but the ones who wanted divisional were more unwilling to go down the other route. In the end we had 18 in agreement.
"Ten in the top flight gives us a best v best feel. There are more players playing against the best teams.
"With eight, you had 25 per cent of the best teams being relegated, and it was harder to get out of Division Two.
"It was felt it was the only system in the world where 25 per cent of the teams got relegated in any given year.
"The flip of that is that now if you are in Division Two you have a better chance of promotion. If you get relegated from Division One you deserve to be relegated."
The idea was meant to be adopted in 2020, but the pandemic meant that could not happen and, according to the Daily Mail, the significant changes to the domestic structure mean the ECB have commissioned a new review to decide what changes should be made to county cricket from 2023.
What changes to county cricket do you think should be made? Let us know in the comments section.
According to the Times, The Hundred will continue to be played in a 'prime five-week slot', but the structure and scheduling of the County Championship, the One Day Cup and the T20 Blast is yet to be decided.
A briefing note seen by the Times says: "We propose that the game carry out a comprehensive review of men’s domestic cricket with the key recommendations being presented back to the first-class counties for consideration in April 2022."
