Do county cricketers have too many playing days? Who knows, as to the simpler  question of how much they do play:  take those who play the most…the red-ballers.. add their  number of Blast and ODC/100 games and the average in the 2024 season for English players was just under 40 days if you take away those  lost to rain, early finishes, just over if you don’t. As stats go though the 40 figure is not especially informative, about one player in four was within +/- 10 days of it.

More than 60 days in a six month season too much, one day off, one for preparation, one playing and beyond that not good?  Maybe, those doing more are not surprisingly predominantly batters, batters who bowl and all-rounders: 63 players in total, the specialist bowlers coming in at 9,10 and 11 countable on the figures of one hand. A problem then with batters feeling the mental strain? Players mental health important obviously, but if that is an or even the main  issue it sits oddly with the argument for playing less to up the  intensity.

But not to underestimate the demands on bowlers, an average of just over 50 days among those that took 20(+) wickets in 2024, those playing less than the overall average countable on one hand and two digits.  When it comes to the physical strains the lot of bowlers certainly gets mentioned at times, but also fair to add that among the  20(+)’s  takers  that a quarter of them were from overseas.

Reason not to exhale against reductions in the County Championship? Playing days are noticeably more than in Australia, but so are the days  played by England’s Test cricketers, and as an explanation for poor showings in Tests  it comes with a rather large maybe, maybe many other things  as well.  Fourth-days in the  CC: watched by folks who watch, good finishes good for playing intensity, the WTC final was a timely show for why 14 of those.