Essex County Championships & National Qualifiers

New County Format Proposal (Draft)

Here is the new format proposal from the ESMBA

  • 18th September 2026
  • Anthony Fautley

Please see the proposed format changes below - Submit feedback to Essex via this form

The idea of this form is for you to ask questions/provide your opinion, so please be as critical as possible but remember they are trying to make changes that members have asked for at the AGM so stay positive.

Unfortunately the ESMBA have not given us a lot of time to submit feedback, so please respond asap and by 25th September


Proposed New Inter-County Competition Format For Season 2027-2028 (DRAFT)


The proposal is to introduce two separate competitions:

Premier League and ICC


Premier League

The new Premier League will consist of teams made up of 20 players, plus 4

reserves.

Format will be:

Format

  • 3 Sessions per game allow 3.5 hours per round (?)
  • Session 1 - Triples (11 ends?) and Fours (10 ends?)
  • Session 2 - Pairs (12 ends?) and Singles (12 ends?)
  • Session 3 - 5 Fours (10 ends?)

Scoring system

  • 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 2 points for overall session score
  •  Total points available 32
  •  Count back if tied on points at end of round 7 – shot difference, shots

scored, shots conceded, ends won.

Umpires

Umpires will be provided by the ESMBA Organisers

ESMBA rules to apply

The Premier League will be played over two weekends, at central venues, venues to

be used will depend on entries, with all teams playing against each other during the

course of those weekends. This will provide a full round-robin format, ensuring that

every county competing in the Premier League has the opportunity to play against

all other Premier teams.

Players selected to represent their county in the Premier League will not be eligible

to play in the ICC Competition.

ICC

The ICC Competition will remain in its current format, with no changes to the

existing structure.

The ICC Competition will continue to provide an opportunity for players who are not

participating in the Premier League.

County Entries

Counties will have flexibility in how they enter teams into the two competitions.

Cost for the new format will be £250 per team. Cost for the 2nd tier competition will

remain unchanged.

A county can:

Enter one team in the Premier League;

Enter one team in the ICC Competition;

If they have sufficient players to make up two teams, enter one team in the Premier

League and one team in the ICC Competition; or

Enter two teams in the ICC Competition.

This gives counties the flexibility to enter teams according to the number of players

they have available, while also creating a clear Premier level for the strongest

county teams.

The proposed format should provide a competitive and structured Premier

Competition while retaining the current ICC type Competition and giving counties

greater flexibility to accommodate their available players.

We hope that the proposal will be given careful consideration and that counties will

have the opportunity to provide their views before the final format is agreed.