Ahead of the 2023 domestic season, there have been a number of regulation changes following the High Performance Review. These changes will be in place for the start of the 2023 season and affect the LV= Insurance County Championship and registration of Overseas players.
Points System
There are two changes to how points are awarded for next season’s County Championship. Drawn matches, which previously awarded each team with eight points will now return to the five points awarded pre-pandemic. A win in the County Championship remains at 16 points.
The other change sees batting bonus points awarded from 250 runs as opposed to 200 in previous years. A fifth batting bonus point will still be available but has increased from 400+ scores to 450+. There is no change to the allocation of bowling bonus points and teams still have 110 overs of their first innings to earn them.
Batting bonus points from 2023 onwards:
250-299 = 1 point
300-349 = 2 points
350-399 = 3 points
400-449 = 4 points
450+ = 5 points
These changes are aimed to encourage teams to bat long on well-prepared surfaces and take matches deep into Day 4, while at the same time providing extra incentive to win the match.
Kookaburra Ball Trial
There will be a trial of Kookaburra balls in Rounds 9 and 10 of the County Championship with Dukes balls being used in all other red-ball fixtures. Rounds 9 and 10 have been selected because all 18 First-Class counties play in each round meaning there will be no unfair advantage.
Registration of Overseas Players
First-Class counties will be permitted to register four Overseas players at the same time, but there remains a maximum of two Overseas players who can play per side in any one match.
The previous maximum of Overseas players who could be registered at the same time was three.
This decision allows counties to register two red-ball and two white-ball Overseas players for periods when there is dovetailing between the Vitality Blast and LV= Insurance County Championship.
