County cricket in shambles as players continue to lose faith in ECB

The English County Cricket has been one of the most significant proving grounds for the players who have established themselves among one of the biggest names in the world. For the past 100 years, various big names have gone through the process and stamped their names into history books.

However, the past few years haven't been synonymous with what the prestigious tournament represents. English cricket has been down in the puddle despite a world-class setup with its standards falling like a deck of cards.

After suffering consecutive humiliating defeats in the Ashes series, England's tour of West Indies, questions have piled up on the first-class setup and if it's still capable of producing the cream of the crop it once did.

Many have cited that the English players are not thoroughly prepared for the Test format when at home and that the county championship has failed to prepare young players for the pressures of Test cricket.

While there are multiple compounding factors for England's failure in the red-ball format, several English cricketers have blamed the current county structure as the reason for their Test failure.

Former England Test skipper Joe Root, who stepped down as the captain after a streak of unfortunate losses since February 2021, as an aftermath of their Ashes disaster, called for profound change in domestic cricket. He believes that the county championship lacks incentives and that any success achieved by the English players in test format is in spite of county cricket, not because of it.

"You don't practice it [test conditions] in county cricket. The only time they're exposed to it is in this environment [international test cricket]. So they've never been exposed to it. And yet we're expected to go to the subcontinent and win games against the best spinners in the world" – Joe Root.

Former England star Kevin Pietersen slammed the standard of county cricket and stated that the system was completely flawed, with too many counties competing and falling standards of the domestic tournament.

"Please don't blame the players for not being good enough. The county system is completely flawed and will not produce enough tough & high-quality batters." 

One of the biggest concerns for the English board lies amongst the fact that most of the upcoming players look towards the commercial franchise cricket, which is perhaps the modern-day saviour of our game, as the focus shifts from red-ball cricket. 

The big money deals and the lucrative lifestyle are an incentive for any emerging cricketer across the globe. However, with the appointment of Robert Key as the Director of Men's Cricket, things could take a turn for the better, though it's too early to call the cat 'white', and only time will tell how things will turn out in the longer run.

England will only produce results in the red-ball format if they put a system run with vigour in place. But unfortunately, their domestic system hasn't improved and hasn't yielded the expected results. 

ECB hasn't quite figured out the domestic system and hasn't placed any importance on test cricket. Instead, their impractical perception of the game is the biggest concern.