As County cricket suffers, Lancashire CEO terms BCCI’s domestic diktat ‘fantastic prioritising’

The BCCI directing its established players to participate in domestic cricket has been termed “fantastic prioritising” by Lancashire’s CEO Daniel Gidney, who accused the English players’ agents for facilitating their foray into the lucrative franchise leagues at the expense of the traditional red-ball competition.

The BCCI directing its established players to participate in domestic cricket has been termed "fantastic prioritising" by Lancashire's CEO Daniel Gidney, who accused the English players' agents for facilitating their foray into the lucrative franchise leagues at the expense of the traditional red-ball competition.

Gidney feels these agents threaten the future of the English County Championship.

The BCCI had mandated all international players, except for seniors like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, to play in tournaments such as Ranji and Duleep Trophy when they are not busy with national commitments, the move highlighting the board's emphasis on the role of domestic cricket.

In fact two of the younger stars Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan lost their annual BCCI retainership contracts for skipping domestic events at the expense of IPL. While Kishan despite repeated feelers didn't play a single Ranji game, Iyer did play during the knock-out stage including final.

This decision by the BCCI found many takers, including Gidney, one of cricket's longest-serving chief executive.

"Imagine a governing body (BCCI) actually saying that out loud … That was fantastic prioritising," Gidney was quoted as saying by 'The Guardian'.

Calling the agents the main threat to the future of the English County Championship, the Lancashire CEO said they "don't care" about the county game.