PCA: Players reiterate schedule concerns

With the full 2025 domestic fixture list now released, PCA Chair James Harris has responded, citing “baby step progress” relating to the prioritisation of player welfare with a plea for the game to come together to improve matters for 2026.

Following the release of the 2024 men’s schedule, the PCA, its members and the ECB have been in increasing communication with the aim of prioritising player welfare, opposed to a fixture list compiled by prioritising commercial revenue.

Constructive engagements have been ongoing with the ECB, including representatives attending the PCA Summit in October, with all parties recognising the challenges of making structural changes to county cricket.

The fixture list for the 2025 men’s summer does see a reduction in back-to-back Blast fixtures, however, this still happens on 39 occasions, down from 55 in 2024.

With the transition to a county structure in the women’s game, professional players will be playing more than ever before, including a 60% increase in back-to-back fixtures in the Vitality Blast, compared to the 2024 Charlotte Edwards Cup.

This means when combining the men’s and women’s professional game, there are 54 back-to-back 20-over games in 2025, compared to 61 in 2024.

The fixtures release follows 12 months of men’s players voicing their growing concerns on the workload, citing significant physical and mental worries. Research ahead of the 2024 season saw 81% of men’s players state the current schedule causes them a physical concern, 62% from a mental wellbeing perspective while 76% were worried about the safety of travelling arrangements.

This was supported by England batter Joe Root who featured in 13 early season games for Yorkshire, saying in May: “The creation of minimum standards to protect travel windows and player welfare is non-negotiable.”

Gloucestershire player Miles Hammond also recorded a video diary mid-season that featured his team play home and then away Blast games on successive nights before a seven-hour travel day to Scarborough to take on Yorkshire the next day.

During the meetings ahead of the 2024 season, players overwhelmingly asked for a minimum of one-day between T20 fixtures and three days between four-day games in a request to not only prioritise mental and physical condition, but to produce their best possible cricket.

PCA Chair and Glamorgan bowler, James Harris, said: “During our PCA Summit in October, the ECB acknowledged the men’s schedule is not fit for purpose and requires changes to ensure player welfare requirements were met with minimum standards on days of rest, recovery and preparation between fixtures.

“The players need change and with the ECB seemingly supportive, we need the 18 First-Class counties to acknowledge the concerns of not just the players, but the wider professional support staff and come together as a collective to make progressive changes to support the future of our sport.

“It is an impossible job to create a safe schedule with the current structure and there is baby step progress in 2025. The facts show there are still three more back-to-back Blast games in 2025 compared to 2023.

“In the women’s Blast, there will be a 60% increase in games on successive days. This is a trend we are keeping a close eye on as minimum standards should apply to all professional cricket.

“In the men’s game, there is just one day between the Blast Finals Day and a round of County Championship fixtures. If the reserve day is needed, teams would be expected to travel for hours after finishing at 10pm on the Sunday to start a four-day game 12 hours after they leave the pitch in the Blast final. You would have to question the integrity of both competitions.

“There remains further, almost impossible, periods that allow peak performance. In 2025, this is unacceptable in a world where the awareness of mental and physical health of elite athletes needs to be prioritised given the professionalism and scrutiny in the modern era.

“We urge the game to come together because this issue cannot be kicked down the road for any longer. We cannot wait for a tragedy before the game wakes up and recognises player welfare has not been prioritised.

“There is a lot of work to be done and we look forward to working with all relevant stakeholders to make some tweaks to the schedule for 2026.”

Lancashire bowler and PCA Rep, Phoebe Graham, said: “I’m really looking forward to playing in more double headers. A third of our fixtures are on the same day as the men which is awesome for the game and I love playing at Emirates Old Trafford.

“It does come with a caveat that four of the 14 fixtures are back-to-back which means we are potentially compromising performance. Three of those four fixtures are standalone games, including at least two hours travel between fixtures.

“There could be more thought behind the schedule with player welfare in mind.

“As we enter the fifth year of the professionalisation of the women’s domestic game we welcome more competitive cricket. However, we do need to make sure this is done safely and it’s fair for all teams across the competition.”

PCA Interim Chief Executive, Daryl Mitchell, said: “The implementation of more double headers between the men’s and women’s Vitality Blast is a real positive as the game continues to move towards an equal playing field.

“We all recognise the difficulties of compiling a fixture list in England and Wales and we are pleased the ECB has started to make some changes after listening to players on their concerns on the mental and physical toll.

“I know the ECB operations team has worked hard to allow greater gaps between fixtures in the men’s game. However, the schedule cannot be in a position of acceptance until we create some space to allow minimum standards throughout the season and the whole game is responsible for this.

“We are encouraged at the amount of common ground we have with the ECB and many counties. While this is reassuring, we need to understand the next steps and what timelines are in place now so in 12 months time, we are not in the same predicament of analysing periods of the season that are simply not safe.”