The English Short Mat Bowling Association has announced changes to the format of the Inter County Championship for the 2023/2024 season.

The Premier Team competition reverts to groups put together on a geographic basis for the round robin stage and a revised format for the knockout stages.  

Cornwall, Devon and Dorset are rejoined by Somerset in a South West group.

A statement on the ESMBA website set out the reasons for change after just one year of the Premier 1 and Premier 2 format used last season: “Despite the new Premier 1 and Premier 2 being a success, the committee understands that the groups involve a lot of travelling and expenses for counties, where in the present financial climate is probably not conclusive for a successful championship.

“So for the coming season the management committee have decided to create a hybrid of what has been preserved as good in the past and the good of the Premier 1 and 2. 

“Therefore, for the coming season the Premier team will be reverting to more traditional geographical groups to minimise the travelling as best as possible. This will mean there will be six groups of four teams. The main difference from the past will be that the top two teams in each group will go into the Premier One knockouts and the third and fourth places will compete in the Premier Two knockouts.”

Changes to the line-up of counties in the Premier competition see Shropshire moving up from the A Team competition with Worcestershire dropping down, and Humberside coming into the competition.

Full line-up of counties in the Premier competition:

Group One - Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall.  

Group Two - Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Avon.

Group Three - Kent, Essex, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire.

Group Four - West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire.

Group Five - Cheshire, Humberside, Shropshire, West Midlands. 

Group Six - Norfolk, Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire.

The format of the knockout competitions will see the Premier One competition involve the top two teams in each group with eight teams going into a preliminary round, the sixth second placed teams plus two group winners.  

The winners of the preliminary round matches will join the other four group winners in the quarter-finals. Similarly in the Premier Two eight teams will go into a preliminary round, the sixth fourth-placed teams plus two third-placed teams. The winners of the preliminary round matches will join the other four third-placed teams in the quarter-finals.  

The A Team competition will follow the same format as last season with Cornwall again in Group One with Devon and Dorset, Somerset have again not entered a team in A Team championship.  

The other groups will be made up of four teams, Group Two featuring West Midlands, Norfolk, Worcestershire and Essex. Group Three includes Kent, Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex.

The knockout format will remain the same with the top three teams qualifying automatically for the semi-finals with the second-placed teams playing off for the remaining spot.

Fixtures and venues for away matches will be confirmed, together with the full county calendar, in the coming weeks.