Surrey Manager Believes in County Changes

As a result of the IPL, the Indian Premier League, Surrey’s manager Alan Butcher believes the current system in England needs to change.

Butcher believes that there is too a big a gap between Tests and the county game, and thinks that a reigional four day competition could decrease that gap. This would only be played by four-six teams.

There are problems with this idea. It could restrict loyalty to counties as players aim to achieve not for their county but so they can become a part in the regional competition. It adds even more cricket to an already packed county schedule. If it is believed a competition similar to the IPL is needed, the fifty over or fourty over leagues would have to be removed.

Butcher believes that the Test side would be picked from the regional teams. This could be a bad idea. Players could be lost in the county championship with no way of ever emerging into the Test side. The gap between Tests and county cannot be as large as people believe – cricketers like Alastair Cook have emerged and succeeded.