‘COUNTY FORMAT IS GOOD’

JAMES VINCE has defended county cricket and believes that evolution rather than revolution is needed to get England back on track in the red-ball game.

The Hampshire captain might be an outside bet for the England job if Joe Root is removed from his post.

But speaking on the eve of the new County Championship season, Vince (below) believes any knee-jerk response to England’s recent failings could do more harm than good.

“There’s a bit of uncertainty about everything at the minute,” he said.

“But it would be a fairly drastic move to change from what we have at the moment.

“There’s obviously a lot of speculation and various opinions about how county cricket can make England stronger.

“The other side of this is that when England have been strong, county cricket hasn’t been hugely different. I don’t remember too many people complaining about domestic cricket when we won in Australia.

“I don’t think you necessarily need to remove teams to make the standard of four-day cricket higher.

“Pitches and the types of bowlers that are taking wickets have been discussed.

“But I think going back to this (two-division) format is a good move.”