David Morgan: Has recommended domestic changes
Professional Cricketers Association chief Angus Porter feels it would make sense to delay implementing the Morgan Report into the structure of domestic cricket.
Former International Cricket Council president David Morgan published a report last month which recommended moving from a 16- to a 14-match County Championship season and from 40 to 50 overs in domestic one-day cricket, among other structural changes to be implemented for 2013.
But with the structure having already changed for this season, Porter advocates waiting to see how successful that schedule proves before tinkering further.
Porter, a member of the ECB's cricket committee, said: "The Morgan Review has a difficult task trying to reconcile a lot of views about a structure which is quite complicated.
"The views of the cricket committee and the players are pretty similar, in that we think the structure we have in 2012 is a pretty good one. It would make sense to review this season before making any decisions about the long-term future.
"We have switched the structure of our competitions relatively frequently but this, I think, is the first time recommendations have been made to change the structure before we've even tried the one we've just switched to.
"The next step is that the (ECB) board will review the inputs made by the cricket committee, the players and the counties at its meeting in March.
"They too have a balance to strike between having a good deal of consultation and, in the end, the need to make a decision and provide some leadership."
A 14-match County Championship season with nine teams in each division would mean teams would face some opponents once and others twice.
And Porter said: "The issue players have with the competitions proposed in the Morgan Review is that all three of them lack integrity and symmetry - not one is a simple league or knockout, they're all very complicated arrangements.
"We came up with a proposal that instead of eight (teams) in the first division and 10 in the second (of the Championship), we could have two conferences of five in the second division so that at least each side would have identical fixture lists.
"Whether that gets adopted we will have to see, we haven't been pushing it too hard because we're not yet convinced of the benefits of switching from 16 to 14 matches."
The abandonment of domestic 50-over cricket in 2009 put the English game out of step with international cricket, and England batsman Samit Patel today spoke up in favour of a 50-over domestic competition.
"I think the (right) preparation would be to go to 50-over cricket in England, if we're going to prepare for the next World Cup," he said.
"I think 50-over cricket is crucial, I don't see any point in playing the 40-over format if we're playing 50 in the World Cup.
"To produce better cricketers in the 50-over game, I think that's the way it should be.
"At the moment we're sticking to a 40-over format, which attracts a lot of crowds.
"People say the 50-over format is dead. But I think if we're looking for the bigger picture, towards the next World Cup, 50-over cricket should come back."
But Porter noted: "It all depends what problem you're trying to solve.
"If you ask players generally 'should we play the same format in domestic cricket that we play in international cricket?', then the answer is yes.
"If you ask them a different question - 'Is 40- or 50-over cricket the better game to play and the better product to watch?' - then views are much more mixed. I think the majority would probably say 'we think 40 overs is a better product'.
"If what we're doing in the Morgan Review is to look at what is best for domestic cricket, the answer may indeed be 40-over cricket.
"Forty versus 50, we're not strongly one side of the fence or the other."
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