{"id":488674,"date":"2026-03-22T03:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T03:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/488674\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T03:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T03:14:11","slug":"england-and-counties-are-at-war-repairing-link-is-vital-for-test-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/488674\/","title":{"rendered":"England and counties are at war. Repairing link is vital for Test success"},"content":{"rendered":"

An advertisement went out last week for the position of national selector to the England men\u2019s teams, a post recently vacated by Luke Wright for personal reasons. One line in the job description stood out: \u201cYou will play a key role in ensuring quality communication between the England cricket team and first-class counties.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s certainly work to be done on that front. Relations between the counties and the England management \u2014 led by the head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key, both of whom, rather against the odds, survived the ECB\u2019s Ashes review<\/a> \u2014 are commonly viewed as dire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is unsurprising, given how disparaging McCullum and Key have been of the county game. Both men are under pressure from their bosses \u2014 conscious of public hostility to the winter\u2019s debacle \u2014 to recalibrate their methods, but if they did not value county cricket before it is hard to see how they can pretend it is the path to redemption now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"EnglandEngland are seeking a new national selector to replace Wright, left, while McCullum will stay in his role as head coachAlamy<\/p>\n

Some are not even sure a demand to patch things up is practicable. \u201cThey [the ECB] are reacting to outside noise and that\u2019s not a good place to be,\u201d one observer said. \u201cMcCullum can only change 5 or 10 per cent, or he\u2019s not going to be true to himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Key and Ed Barney, the ECB performance director, have\u00a0arranged a meeting with the county directors of cricket next week, and it should be a lively affair. After the strategic shambles in Australia, the counties might reasonably ask Key what his selection philosophy now is, and exactly what type of players he would like them to provide, since some cricketers he had spent two years backing for the Ashes (such as Shoaib Bashir and Mark Wood) were effectively no-shows, largely as a result of botched preparation.\u00a0Barney, a former professional sailor, will be keen on pushing better standards of fitness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even the timing of the meeting has not gone down well, as it is slated for two days before the start of the County Championship season when most counties will be holding final training sessions. As one county official said: \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t arrange it two days before the start of an Ashes series, would they?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"RobBoth Key and McCullum have been disparaging about the county gamePhilip Brown\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disconnect is as bad as I\u2019ve ever known it in my time being involved in county cricket,\u201d said Paul Farbrace, Sussex\u2019s director of cricket and an England assistant coach to Peter Moores and Trevor Bayliss from 2014 to 2019. \u201cWe know that McCullum is not bothered about county cricket, he\u2019s got no interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he and Stokesy [Ben Stokes] say things about picking a player because they watched him bowl on a social media clip, it undermines what you are trying to do. Ultimately, every player England pick comes from county cricket and every player is developed by the counties, not the ECB.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many players in county cricket who say, \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter how many runs I score, how many wickets I take, if I\u2019m not McCullum\u2019s sort of a bloke then I\u2019m not going to fit in.\u2019 I admire the fact they are loyal to their players but they need to be more open about giving other people opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SussexFarbrace, the Sussex director of cricket, says the disconnect between the national set-up and counties \u201cis as bad as I\u2019ve ever known it\u201d Mike Hewitt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

At Surrey\u2019s media day on Tuesday, their head coach Gareth Batty described the path between county cricket and the England team as having become \u201cmisted over\u201d. Steve Harmison, a former England fast bowler and a potential candidate for the national selector post, put it more bluntly during the winter when he said that the England management \u201clooked down on county cricket like it\u2019s something on the bottom of their shoe\u201d. <\/p>\n

At least if Harmison or Darren Gough, another contender, took on the selector role they might promote the idea that the way to get fit for bowling is to bowl. This was one of the main criticisms of the Ashes campaign, with Wood, Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson all breaking down having played little or no red-ball cricket in the build-up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is expected that England-contracted players who are not away at the Indian Premier League will play more championship cricket than in recent seasons between now and the first Test of the summer, starting on June 4 against New Zealand, with Stokes preparing to play several games for Durham.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MarkThe fact that players such as Wood had played little red-ball cricket before the Ashes hurt England in Australia Philip Brown\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

If that is the case, then their involvement must also carry some jeopardy: if they don\u2019t perform, they should be at risk of forfeiting their England place. Having failed so often to rise to pressure moments in the Test arena, they may at least do everyone a favour and respond to the glint of the selectors\u2019 axe when playing for their counties. <\/p>\n

Allowances should be made for county cricket not always replicating the international stage, but nonetheless historical evidence clearly shows that few players substantially outperform their first-class records at Test level. If Zak Crawley averages 32.79 for Kent, no one should be surprised that his return in Test matches (31.18) is little different. Of all the Test regulars, Crawley\u2019s place looks most precarious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rightly or wrongly, there is an expectation around the counties that England will modify their approach to selection after losing 4-1 in Australia last winter and India two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving been through what the England team has been through in the last couple of years, maybe there\u2019s a view that having some balance within the batting order, where you\u2019ve got aggressive players alongside batters who are able to see through difficult spells, might be seen as a positive now,\u201d Hampshire\u2019s director of cricket, Giles White, said. \u201cI could see that being a view from management if they reflect on the winter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is beyond question is that the downturn in England\u2019s Test results has prompted few tears around the counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately they [England\u2019s management] are going to be judged on results, and at the moment the results in Test match cricket are not good enough,\u201d Farbrace added. \u201cI don\u2019t see England improving as a team or improving players individually. Ben Duckett is the only batter who has really improved in the past three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ZakCrawley\u2019s average of 32.79 for Kent reflects his return on the Test stageKyle Andrews\/Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an awful lot of shoehorning people in\u2026 bits-and-pieces players making up the team. That hasn\u2019t worked for them in the big series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you haven\u2019t got a great link with county cricket, it\u2019s no surprise you\u2019re not going to get sympathy from county cricketers and clubs. There\u2019s an element of arrogance about the England set-up which has pissed off those of us in county cricket.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCullum\u2019s error may have been to not engage more with county cricket, even if he doubts its capacity to hone top talent. Like it or not, it is the breeding ground of future international players. Bayliss was not a great student, or admirer, of the county game but he invited county coaches to England training days before home matches to get to know them and exchange ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SteveHarmison, a contender for the national selector job, previously accused the national management of \u201clooking down\u201d on the county gameGareth Copley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never want to knock county cricket,\u201d Alec Stewart, Surrey\u2019s director of cricket, said. \u201cIt should be supported and respected. It\u2019s the breeding ground of future internationals. We produce excellent pitches here at the Oval and on excellent pitches you produce excellent cricketers. The players value it and want to win the championship above all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surrey\u2019s lines of communication with England are good, and Farbrace and White both stressed that England\u2019s messaging had been excellent over the management of their fast bowlers \u2014 Archer at Sussex, and Sonny Baker and Eddie Jack at Hampshire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Farbrace also conceded that if the county game wanted to be held in higher regard by England then it had to put its house in better order. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to play on much better pitches and find a schedule that gives our players the best chance of being successful,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An advertisement went out last week for the position of national selector to the England men\u2019s teams, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-488674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}