• Kookaburra ball will be used for four midsummer rounds
• Revamped women’s structure to feature seven finals days

As the ink dried on the latest million-pound Indian Premier League contracts, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) released details of plans for the men’s 2025 County Championship season – one that looks largely the same as 2024, only with some tinkering around the edges with the Kookaburra ball and the trial of hybrid pitches continuing for another year.

The Kookaburra experiment continues, despite audible discontent from some bowlers and the outgoing Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart describing it “as the worst decision ever”. But the early season dalliance has been binned – after 16,817 runs were scored in the first two rain-hit rounds for only one result – and instead the Dukes will be substituted for the Kookaburra during rounds nine, 10, 11 and 12 in late June and July.