Keeping stars from playing reduces crowds

A FEW quick comments regarding our great summer game:

Firstly, I am loving the outgrounds series in this paper.

Secondly, what a fantastic addition to Sky’s commentary team Wasim Akram was this summer. He portrayed his views with real enthusiasm and without bias.

My third point is the unfairness that the County Championship could all but be decided because Yorkshire have been deprived of (at times) over a third of the team due to England commitments whereas Middlesex or Somerset have had near settled squads all year.

When the powers-that-be sit down to ponder why county matches are poorly attended, one factor could be that some counties are deprived of their best players. As a comparison, look at the attendances for English football’s League Cup (or whatever it is called this year). Hardly anyone attends the early rounds because teams play their squad players and rest the ‘stars’.

I’m sure county games would be better attended if the public knew they were likely to see star players in action.

Lastly, I can’t help but feel that some England players are too big for their boots; I refer to the instances where our experienced bowlers too easily throw a strop when something goes wrong for them.

Unless the ball is jagging about or the pitch is favourable, our so called premium bowlers seem to struggle when toil is required and take it out on others, setting bad examples and fracturing team spirit.