CRICKET WORLD

Durham captain Will Smith is instinctively opposed to the introduction of a conference system in county cricket, but concedes he is becoming more tolerant of change in the sport.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive David Collier is heading research into ways of reducing the volume of domestic first-class cricket, with a shift to three six-team conferences one of the options under discussion.

As the leader of a side who have won back-to-back county championships, Smith is naturally wary of any moves to tinker with the playing format.

Durham have thrived in the two-tier system, introduced in 2000, and Smith believes it has delivered the competitive cricket it was brought in to produce.

"It seems to me that the two-divisional structure has worked well," Smith said after overseeing a comprehensive 311-run win over MCC.

"Two divisions seems to have served the purpose it was intended to serve.

"Obviously the reason they are looking at trying other things is to cut down the amount of cricket which is being played, and that is something I do agree with in the general scheme of things.

"But I can't see that a three-conference structure would work that well."

Nevertheless, Smith accepts that cricket is a game which has been moving quickly, and often dramatically, since the inception of Twenty20.

So much so that the game between the champion county and MCC was not only transplanted from Lord's to Abu Dhabi this year, but also used as a high-profile trial for day/night cricket using pink balls.

And while Smith, 27, is content to describe himself as a traditionalist, his experiences at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium have helped persuade him to be receptive to new ideas.

"I was slightly sceptical about the pink ball being used in this game and it's played very well, so you're always there to be proved wrong," he added.

"I'll always be slightly cynical of change, which is probably quite an old-fashioned quality, but I do like the traditional values of cricket.

"Saying that, you always have to try and be open to change.

"If you do have experiments and they seem to work then why not go with it?

"So much of cricket these days is moving on and evolving and you need to embrace that change as long as it is change for the right reasons. That's what I believe."

Smith was generally impressed by how the pink Kookaburra ball performed in its highest-profile trial to date, but outlined two key concerns.

He said: "The ball seemed to work well for the most part. The only problems were the twilight period, when it is much harder to see, and last night when we had a bit of dew and the ball was like a sponge.

"They are the two drawbacks for me at the moment. I don't see how you can change those environmental factors too much, which would seem to be a problem, but if there are scientific ways of getting round that then I'm all for it."

MCC head of cricket John Stephenson was heartened by how the ball played but added that the views of the players involved in the match would be heeded.

"The ball's been doing really well," he said. "The players love it, the spectators I've spoken to can see it really well and it's lasted longer than I thought in very harsh conditions, so I think it's done well in the circumstances.

"I've heard a couple of the problems so we will go back to the manufacturers about them.

"That is all part of the feedback process and we value all of the feedback we have got from the last few days. We'll be making a report on all these things."