Players from across the game met face-to-face at the PCA Summit to discuss the current landscape of the game and what the future holds for professional cricketers.
A total of 31 players representing both men’s and, for the very first time, women’s professional sides attended the three-day event at the Carden Park in Cheshire, where they had the opportunity to discuss key issues affecting the game in England and Wales.
Players were encouraged to engage with one another in both formal and informal settings so as to gather opinion in the most effective way, whether that was through meetings or out on the golf course.
Four representatives from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) were also in attendance to give presentations to the players and take on board their feedback in an in-person environment.
Key issues discussed included the first edition of The Hundred, the structure of domestic cricket, the standard of umpiring and increasing the professionalism of the domestic women’s game.
After 18 months of Zoom meetings, it was the first time the PCA had been able to bring players together in a face-to-face setting since Rookie Camp in March 2020, and the first time that members of the PCA Players’ Committee had met since the 2020 AGM one month previously.
The group of 31 was made up primarily of representatives from the Players’ Committee, an influential group of players which has the ability to vote on issues affecting the entire membership of the PCA.
For the very first time, domestic women cricketers were also present at the Summit, with players from the eight regional centres joined by England Women captain and PCA Vice Chair Heather Knight.
PCA Chair, James Harris, said: “It was lovely for us all to be in the same room, which we haven’t done for 18 months. To get a cross-section from across the game and all the different teams, men’s and women’s, is a great thing. It’s really important that the players’ voices are heard.
“It’s great that the ECB are willing to come and chat to the players – it would be very easy for them to sit in the office and make decisions without consulting us. They understand the power that the players have, how important our views are, and they want the same thing as us – a better and stronger game in this country.”
PCA Chief Executive, Rob Lynch, said: “Our role is to represent the current views of our members, and we can only do that through knowing what those views are and having that flow of information between the dressing rooms and through to us. It gives us the information we need and reaffirms our views that we’re going in the right direction.
“Being in-person has just been so valuable, in terms of both the formal sessions and the informal time we have spent amongst our members over the three days.
“There have been some really good questions from our members to our colleagues at the ECB, and I was really happy with the information that they provided us on The Hundred, the domestic game and the international game.
“One thing I’m constantly amazed by is the passion and dedication of the PCA Players’ Committee representatives. For them to give up a couple of days of their time to be with us and share their views is so vital – it’s an impressive and youthful group, which I think is really healthy for both us and the game.”
