Image Source- Surrey CCC
On the day Surrey won the 2023 County Championship,
Alec Stewart charged the ECB for disrespecting the competition.
The decision to arrange a one-day international series
against Ireland that impacted availability for the final two rounds of the Championship
was attacked by Stewart, who has served as Surrey’s director of cricket since
2014. He also criticised the proposed 2024 calendar, saying it will further
devalue the first-class game, and he urged the governing body to do more to
assist the counties.
Surrey was missing Gus Atkinson and Sam Curran during
the run-up, and then had to make due without Will Jacks and Jamie Smith as both
were part of a second-string team for those matches when England rested their
World Cup players for the Ireland series. Jacks and Smith missed the final game
against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on day two (Wednesday), after the Ireland
series concluded in Bristol on Tuesday. Without them, Surrey struggled against
Northamptonshire in their absence.
“I have a bit of a moan here at the ECB,”
Stewart said after Surrey had been confirmed as champions for the 21st time in
their history. “They still need to respect the County Championship. We all
like the Championship, have played in it, worked with it.
“Take these Ireland games – England didn’t pick
their first team, which was understandable because of the World Cup. But also
to say that there was one game during round 13, then a game in between and then
one game on the first day of this game. That to me is disrespectful to the
county game.
“Could they have staged it better so that you
only missed one game and had all three games during that penultimate game and
perhaps on that first rest day so that everyone is then available?”
“Even next year, what the probable schedule looks
like next year, the ECB are going to try and call it Super September. It’s
anything but. When the quarter-final of the T20 is on, there’s a Test match.
When the finals of the T20 is on, England are playing Australia in T20s on the
Friday and the Sunday. When the 50-over final is on, England are playing
Australia.
“You have to work with the national team, and I
always want England to be the best. But also trying to find a way of being more
respectful to the county game because that is where your players are made to go
on to England. That’s what we’re up against.”