THE introduction of The Hundred back in 2021 has not only deprived counties of their top players for the month of August, but also resulted in their being no county championship cricket, the blue riband competition, which is the breeding ground for Test Match played at all that month- the time when many people young and old are on holiday.

County cricket is now under further threat with the Andrew Strauss led ‘High Performance Review’ which it seems is likely to recommend a reduction in the number of games played in the championship to 10 per season, meaning members would have just five matches of real cricket per summer.

Members and supporters of the traditional game which is widely followed across the country have decided that enough is enough and are anxious to prevent a repeat of The Hundred, which was  imposed despite massive objections from cricket fans.

With this in mind action groups have been formed in a number of the counties to gather signatures for a petition which has seen large numbers sign up since it was launched just a few days ago.

On Thursday during the course of Somerset’s one day match against Notts Outlaws, Somerset member Tracey Hewitt distributed leaflets explaining what she was doing and collected signatures for the petition. 

At the end of the game Tracey Hewitt explained: “We are campaigning and gathering signatures to present to the CEO of Somerset as part of a nationwide campaign to prevent a reduction in the number of counties and the number of game they play.

“The campaign started with one guy in Lancashire thinking that he didn’t like what was being proposed so he went round and gathered a lot of signatures, and then started an on line petition which has really taken off.

“It has gone really really well for me today and we have gathered a large number of signatures from people who are unhappy with what is happening. We will be keeping those who sign up in Somerset separate so we can present it to Gordon Hollins here.”

If you missed out on signing the petition, Tracey along with several others will be coming to as many of the remaining home games as possible.

Alternatively you can log onto  http://lancssctiongroup.com/save-1st-class-cricket