A move to improve the standard of First Class pitches will feature prominently on the agenda for the First Class Forum, which will meet at Lord's on Thursday 16th December.

At the final meeting of the year, a proposal from the England and Wales Cricket Board Cricket Advisory Committee will be made in support of Pitch Liaison Officers to act for the 2000 season. In addition, a number of technical playing changes for next season will be proposed in order to move domestic cricket in line with ICC regulations. Approval for the 2000 budget is also sought.

A general deterioration in the standard of pitches and the abundance of pitches giving undue assistance to bowlers in the early stages of matches have resulted in proposed measures to improve the quality of pitches.

In order to re-address the balance between bat and ball, proposed Pitch Liaison Officers would be empowered to attend any First Class fixture and discuss pitch preparation with the Host Groundsman, Chief Executive and Umpires. He would have the authority to penalise Counties for the preparation of sub standard surfaces by means of a sliding scale of point penalties together with instant sanctions for unsatisfactory pitches.

Additionally, in order to encourage the preparation of less bowler-friendly pitches, a change to the bonus point system for the PPP healthcare County Championship will be put forward, with five batting and three bowling points replacing the current rule of four and four.

Other agenda items will include proposals to make technical changes to domestic playing conditions, thus reflecting ICC regulations for international cricket. The adoption of the ICC two bouncers per over regulation, instead of the current one bouncer per over regulation, will be put forward. It will also be proposed that the penalty for a Wide in one-day cricket should become one + regulation as opposed to 'one run if no runs are scored'. Further items relate to absence from the field, replacement of the ball, movement of fielders and players damaging the pitch.

The First Class Forum (FCF) is comprised of representatives from the 18 First Class Counties and the MCC. The Chairman of the FCF is David Morgan.