Luke Ryan believes that three-day matches have little future in Minor Counties cricket.

The county captain was speaking after the dust had settled on Oxfordshire’s ten-wicket thashing by Wiltshire in their opening Unicorns Counties Championship match at Banbury earlier this week.

Oxon fielded a heavily-depleted side with as many as 14 players unavailable.

It’s not the first time Oxon’s three-day side has been decimated.

And Ryan said: “I have an opinion that three-day cricket is not the future.

“I think that the world is changing with people’s attitudes and time commitments.

“Certainly we have some concerns with it. When people have careers it is difficult to get time off.

“It is 12 days’ holiday taken over a three-month period every other week on Mondays and Tuesdays.

“We are bringing in Twenty20 at Minor Counties next year, and there are question marks over whether we can have all three formats.

“I think Twenty20 and one-day cricket should be championed at this level and not three-day cricket.

“The opinions of the players need to be sought as well as the administrators.”