Lord's kingmaker Sir Andrew Strauss has published his high performance review – with a mission statement to make England No.1 in the world across all formats within five years.
But the former England captain wants to get there by making wholesale changes to the domestic game, notably a three-division County Championship, and he warned: "The status quo is not an option."
Strauss has spent the last six months conducting an in-depth autopsy on England's latest Ashes blow-out in Australia, where they have lost the last three series 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0. And he has presented 17 keynote recommendations, featuring a six-team top division and two secondary conferences where the winners would play off for one promotion annually.
Four-day cricket would be spread more evenly across the summer – unlike the current shambles of book-ending games at either end of the season, crammed into May and September. But The Hundred, which continues to polarise opinions sharply within the game, is here to stay – at least for the short term – in August.
The last major review of English cricket – the 2007 Schofield Report, which was also commissioned on the back of another drubbing in Australia – produced the desired effect, with England winning the next three Ashes series and landing their first global white-ball trophy at the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.
Strauss said: "The status quo is not an option. Everyone in the game is telling us this. We have listened, we must now act. Tectonic plates are shifting rapidly around us and finding solutions is like a Rubik's cube – you can't solve one thing without unsolving another.
"I honestly feel this set of proposals can make a massive difference to the game. Of course anything in our domestic structure is very contentious and it's for the game to go away, talk and debate.
"What we need to understand is how important it is for us to have a coherent schedule, and the answer to quality is not quantity. A higher standard, more intense red-ball competition should be a great thing for members, for players, for groundstaff, for coaches.
"We think it's a very complete package but there are going to be elements of it that certain people feel are not in their interest, and we understand that. That's the reality of the domestic structure."
Strauss unveiled his blueprint 24 hours after England's Ashes schedule for 2023 was confirmed – with five Tests shoehorned into a 46-day window in June and July. High performance is not readily compatible with back-to-back Tests where squad rotation, and therefore teams below full-strength, is inevitable.
But Strauss insisted: "We are not living in cloud cuckoo land here, but we can't be afraid to be radical." The overall reduction in matchdays is intended to create time for more rest, coaching and analysis, leading to more intense competition and higher standards.
While that is likely to go down well with the players, many of whom have found the 2022 fixture list an unsatisfactory jigsaw of competitions and formats, there are major financial implications at stake.
Fewer matches means less revenue for the counties - not only at the gate but also among the membership, who will effectively see less cricket for their money.
County chairmen are unlikely to wave through the plan – which is scheduled to take effect in 2024 - without significant resistance.
Strauss acknowledged: "These are difficult conversations and important decisions. Sometimes you've got to look at the bigger picture and understand that it's better to walk to the right solution than jump off the edge of a cliff."
