The 2025 domestic cricket schedule has been met with concerns for player welfare as the Professional Cricketers' Association called for future changes to avoid a "tragedy".
The ECB confirmed next year's County Championship and One Day Cup fixtures on Tuesday, competitions which sit alongside the Vitality Blast and The Hundred in a packed six-month schedule next summer.
The announcement prompted criticism from PCA chair James Harris, who says his organisation is having constructive ongoing communication with ECB surrounding player welfare and wants the game to come together to make significant changes in 2026.
"There remains further, almost impossible, periods that allow peak performance," said Harris.
"In 2025, this is unacceptable in a world where the awareness of mental and physical health of elite athletes needs to be prioritised given the professionalism and scrutiny in the modern era.
"We urge the game to come together because this issue cannot be kicked down the road any longer. We cannot wait for a tragedy before the game wakes up and recognises player welfare has not been prioritised."
ECB managing director of competitions & major events, Neil Snowball, says player welfare is a major factor in the scheduling of the county season
He also denied that the ECB is at loggerheads with the PCA.
"A decent chunk of matches are mitigated by double-headers that have been scheduled," Snowball said.
"Weaving the 50-over cricket in and around other games was okay. There are enough days in the week in the six months for this.
"The fixtures have been received well... and we have got some pretty positive responses.
"The aim was to give counties what they wanted and we have been able to do that to about 95 per cent."
Former England captain Nasser Hussain spoke out on the concerns over the schedule, saying this is not a new problem for the game.
"I've been hearing this for 25 years," he told Sky Sports News. "I go back to our old England coach, Duncan Fletcher… when he took over the job, he sat down with all the county coaches and asked, 'Is there too much cricket?' Every coach replied, 'Yes'.
"They don't get time to prepare, time to rest, time for self-analysis, technical analysis. It is just a treadmill. And obviously it's getting worse, because there are more formats now - and everyone wants their piece of the pie.
"There are people who love the County Championship and want to play as much of that. People love the Blast and want as much of that as possible. Then you have The Hundred, international cricket - Test cricket and white ball - it is all too much.
"The schedule is an absolute nightmare. And the point from the PCA is that it is troublesome for the mental health of cricketers… it can be a treadmill. That's what the PCA are really worried about."
The ECB confirmed on Tuesday that Surrey will begin their bid for a fourth consecutive Rothesay County Championship title with a trip to Essex in the first week of April.
Surrey are aiming to become the first side to win the competition four times in a row since they recorded seven successive titles during a glittering period between 1952 and 1958.
The Kia Oval team will head to Chelmsford from Friday April 4 to Monday April 7, with the opening round in Division One also seeing newly-promoted Yorkshire and Sussex visit Hampshire and Warwickshire respectively.
Nottinghamshire will host Durham, while Somerset welcome Worcestershire to Taunton.
In Division Two, Lancashire and Kent - both relegated from the top flight at the end of the 2024 season - open up with away fixtures, against Middlesex and Northamptonshire respectively.
The other games in round one are Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire and Glamorgan vs Leicestershire.
Eight rounds of County Championship action will be contested across April and May, with two each in June and July and then three more in September to close out the domestic summer.
The fixtures in June and July will be played with the Kookaburra ball, as opposed to the usual Dukes.
The Kookaburra - which has a less-pronounced seam than the Dukes - was used for two rounds in April and two in September in the 2024 season.
However, it is hoped that the move to the height of summer will provide reverse swing for pace bowlers and also bring spinners into play.
The Kookaburra is mainly used overseas, including in Australia, and its introduction to county cricket was recommended by Sir Andrew Strauss' high-performance review after England were thumped 4-0 away from home in the 2021-22 Ashes.
The fixtures for the Metro Bank One Day Cup have also been announced, with the group stage of the new women's competition to be played in April and May before returning in July and the men's pool phase to be held in August.
Defending men's champions Glamorgan - who beat Somerset in the 2024 final at Trent Bridge - kick off their defence at home to Hampshire in Neath on Tuesday August 5.
The finals of both tournaments will take place in September - the men's at Trent Bridge on Saturday September 20 and the women's at Hampshire's Utilita Bowl a day later.
The women's competition will see the eight sides - Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Somerset, Surrey, The Blaze (Nottinghamshire) and Warwickshire - play each other home and away before the top four advance to the semi-finals.
In addition, there will be a league two of the women's Metro Bank One Day Cup featuring Derbyshire Falcons, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire Foxes, Middlesex, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Sussex Sharks, Worcestershire Rapids. and Yorkshire.
The Disability Premier League title will also be won in September.
The group stage, which features Black Cats, Hawks, Pirates and Tridents, will be played over three rounds before the final is staged as a double-header with England's men's T20 against South Africa in Cardiff on Tuesday September 10.
