1st July & still nothing!! :(

[Themer]

And I've completely forgotten about the one with the best looking future as well, James Taylor. FC average of 47.40, one day of 48.83 at 84.29 and even Twenty20 34.92 at 117.

Wag.

[Coyote]

Chaminda Vaas bowled 77mph and it didn't do him much harm.

[Graham_5000]

Hildreth is one of my favourite players and he is still young enough to play internationally.

[Scritty]

And I've completely forgotten about the one with the best looking future as well, James Taylor. FC average of 47.40, one day of 48.83 at 84.29 and even Twenty20 34.92 at 117.

Wag.

Only time will tell with these guys. Against each other and 40 year old Kolpak refugees they do all look good - I can't deny that
.
It's against decent players that I doubt their credentials.

The top 10 bowlers and batters in terms of average this year seems to have a lot of 35+ year old ex overseas players - who weren't good enough 10 years ago to get regular places with their own countries, yet now dominate English cricket despite - for the most part - being well past their prime.

The point being maybe we DO have enough raw talent to put together a decent team into the future, but with 18 counties the top players play against each other too rarely to be tested and for us to know for sure.

The SA franchise system "trimmed the fat". 6 sides playing each other home and away - and that's your lot. Less than 80 regular professional cricketers compared with 3x that in the UK.

But time will tell I suppose.

Scritty

[Graham_5000]

I spoke to a distinguished former England batsman about this. He advocated having a South-east team, South team, West and Wales, Midlands, North-east and a North-West team for the FC championship, but then suggested that the one day and t20 competition are kept with existing counties.

It also depends on who you watch. I am half South African and watch the Warriors in December and Jan when over there, but I watch Kent here in the UK.

This season Kent are awful, but if you are watching Sussex or Durham you might have a different impression on the standard.

I don't think the above idea is necessarily essential. Let us also remember that Broad is still a young up and coming player. England need to have an Aussie attitude on emerging players - any player under 30 not 23 is a prospect.

Look at how late Trott came to the test party!

There are a decent number of English players under 30 who have not yet had a chance - like Hildreth!

[ab5ides1]

I reckon Stokes could come into the England one-day side and do the same roll that Collingwood has been doing, but more aggressively.

[batcarry]

I think that if they increase the number of overseas players in the couties for the whole season it will be benificial for the young lot ... and by overseas i dont mean of old grown lads... i mean the stars who are at their prime and are available ... from one lets move it to 2 or 3

[Scritty]

He advocated having a South-east team, South team, West and Wales, Midlands, North-east and a North-West team for the FC championship

I'm going to play devil's advocate against my own argument now.
The problem here is no-one associates themselves with these locations.
We have a regional news program called "Midlands Today" on at 6:30 in the evening. It waffles on about the minutae of events in areas like Nottingham and Coventry which I have no interest in and may never see if I live to be 200.

My local Worcestershire newspaper is of interest. It's about places and people I know and see almost daily. International news is interesting as it's "grand policy" or the most pressing issues that effect us all.

"The Midlands" means nothing to me, and I certainly wouldn't feel any affinity to a team that was "Midlands" based. In short - I would stop going to cricket matches.

Interestingly - I now live in the outskirts of Birmingham, (Barnt Green - still technically Worcestershire - but much closer to Brum) I've noticed that Brummies do fell a little more affinity to the idea and term "Midlands" - though If pressed it seems this is because they consider that they are a notional "head" of this made up area. I hardly have the heart to tell them how everyone else feels about this.

My idea is three divisions of 6. 1 up one down. Worcestershire would struggle to ever be in Div one (and would not have been for many years now) 10 FC fixtures a year - home and away against the other teams in your division. Just 2 FC games a month.

Far higher financial rewards for players in Div one and National selectors to either favour OR have a firm policy of only selecting players from Div1/2 for tests. I would go further and maybe have a Div 4 for the best minor counties just to keep Div 3 on it's toes.

Promotion/relegation would be a big thing then. Essp from 1 to 2. Counties in 1/2 would look to have the best players and the players themselves would be eager to play for better placed counties.

Replacing this with notional areas that no-one feels any affinity for would be the end of the game financially FC and OD. Having players play for "regions" then come back and play for your County side for a t20 on a Wednesday night would remove any sense of "belonging" I think - on the part of the players and the fans. One generation down the line players would be saying;

"And why exactly do I have to spend a couple of hours a week playing for Northants again?" and the fans would feel the same ambivolence towards them.

There is a better way than we have currently - I just don't know what it is.

Scritty

[Phylos Fett]

My idea is three divisions of 6. 1 up one down. Worcestershire would struggle to ever be in Div one (and would not have been for many years now) 10 FC fixtures a year - home and away against the other teams in your division. Just 2 FC games a month.

Far higher financial rewards for players in Div one and National selectors to either favour OR have a firm policy of only selecting players from Div1/2 for tests. I would go further and maybe have a Div 4 for the best minor counties just to keep Div 3 on it's toes.

Promotion/relegation would be a big thing then. Essp from 1 to 2. Counties in 1/2 would look to have the best players and the players themselves would be eager to play for better placed counties.

I think this definitely has promise, and I'd be interested to see how it sorted the wheat from the chaff after a couple of seasons.

[Themer]

I'd like idea of three divisions. I'm just strongly against Counties being removed however with the reduced games of three divisions its highly likely that clubs will struggle financially more than they do currently (and they are struggling badly at the moment).

[MattDMX]

I'd like idea of three divisions. I'm just strongly against Counties being removed however with the reduced games of three divisions its highly likely that clubs will struggle financially more than they do currently (and they are struggling badly at the moment).

I see your point but counties make almost no money off County Championship matches at the moment, and receive large subsidies from the ECB. So i don't think the 3 division system would affect them that much. I really like this idea, i think it could go far! (Iknow it won't, but we can dream!)