Travel fatigue invites ‘disaster’ as PCA reveal damning player welfare survey

“I am fortunate to play a significant part of the season for Yorkshire this year and looking at the fixture list from a physical, wellbeing and high-performance angle does cause me concern,” Root said.

“County cricket is the breeding ground for some of the best talent in the game and this requires world leading structures to allow players to reach their full potential. This is a benefit for everybody in the game.

“Having space to recover, prepare and improve your game during the season is crucial and the creation of minimum standards to protect travel windows and player welfare is non-negotiable.”

The PCA’s findings and call for action come at a pivotal time in English cricket, with the County Partnership Agreement – the agreement binding the ECB, PCA and counties – up for renewal. This week will also likely see the counties and MCC agree on the ECB’s proposals around private investment in the Hundred which could raise around £500 million for the domestic game. All of which leads into the next broadcast cycle, which begins in 2025.

The Hundred remains the elephant in the room as far as fixture congestion is concerned, particularly with the Blast. This year’s eight-team competition has ring-fenced July and the first three weeks of August, with no Blast fixtures and just three days of Championship cricket scheduled in this period.

While appreciating the value the Hundred and the importance of matchday revenues for clubs at a precarious time for county finances, Mitchell has called on chiefs and stakeholders to collaborate more around their decision-making. A more altruistic approach is required to ensure players, and by extension, the game, are better protected moving forward.

“The power constitutionally is with the county chairs. But from our side it needs a really joined-up approach. Our focus is player safety, physical or mental wellbeing. It needs to be collaborative between the ECB, PCA and the counties to come up with solutions.

“We saw with the High Performance Review, if you look at the structure from one particular lens without the others, that makes it very tricky to get anything over the line. It has to be joined up.

“We could very easily put out a structure that the players think is ideal, but players also understand the need for the commercial side of the game, the passionate members we have in this country, who are the lifeblood of the counties, who are represented by their chairs. All these stakeholders need to have that approach. We need a collaborative solution to some of the problems we’ve got.

In a statement released in response to the PCA’s survey, the ECB said: “As the PCA recognises, the men’s domestic schedule is a complex issue. The players have an important voice in discussions around this, and we are committed to working with them and the First Class Counties to discuss the best ways of overcoming some of the challenges.”