England’s review into a dismal Ashes is finally over and some actual cricket will break out next week when the County Championship starts.
It is likely to be a frosty spring in the shires. You do not need to move far to find significant figures in English cricket keen to bemoan the England management’s attitude towards the counties.
“The disconnect is as bad as I’ve ever known in my time involved in county cricket,” said Paul Farbrace, the veteran Sussex head coach. “We know that [Brendon] McCullum is not bothered about county cricket, he’s got no interest.”
According to Gareth Batty, the Surrey head coach, the pathway to England selection has “misted over”. Steve Harmison, the former England paceman-turned-broadcaster, said the national team see county cricket like “something on the bottom of their shoe”.
The antipathy between England and the counties pre-dates this England management under Rob Key and McCullum. Remember the aftermath of the Ashes in 2021-22, when captain Joe Root said that “anyone coming into this Test team at the minute is doing it in spite of county cricket, not because of county cricket”, before his employers launched a high-handed performance review that attempted to cut the Championship season to 10 matches?
But the past four years have entrenched division. The perception, some of it reality, is that England do not trust county cricket to produce players, so they have tried to circumvent it with hunches. Some – see Jacob Bethell – have worked. Others – like Josh Hull – have not. They have looked for attributes over averages, and formed a cosy club with supreme loyalty to incumbents. It has been well-intentioned but went too far, and has disenfranchised many in the English game.
Clearly, this is an unsustainable state of affairs. England are not good enough to operate as an island. At its best, the relationship between England and the counties is symbiotic. County cricket can stage entertaining competitions in their own right, and also be a feeder for the bigger stage – the international game – which pays the bills.
Here are some steps England can take to close the divide.