Morgan's warning must be heeded

It would be an exaggeration to term it revolution, but in the strictly-managed world of English cricket, it might well be seen that way. Eoin Morgan's condemnation of England's Twenty20 competition was so scathing that it will deepen the disquiet about the future of the professional game.

"We're falling behind massively," was Morgan's judgment on English Twenty20 a few months after a Friday night relaunch last summer of the NatWest Blast in which England players once again rarely took part. Largely excluded from IPL, unable to take part in their own domestic T20 and rarely gaining T20 experience at international level, England's players are impeded in all directions as they attempt to find excellence in the shortest, most accessible form of the game.

With a World Cup only three months away, and all the emphasis on the 50-over game, it will be easy for the ECB to downplay Morgan's frustration. Talk of the priority being the World Cup and privately remind Morgan in no uncertain terms that undermining the professional game that gives him his living is not to be tolerated. The rebellion, such as it was, will soon be suppressed.

But when England's best T20 players are at odds with the game's administrators then the game is out of kilter. It would be easy to present this as the view of an elite player interested in maximising his earning potential, and there might be a little of that mixed in, but this is primarily about career fulfilment, winning trophies and extending your game to the limit.

Morgan will now be conveniently characterised in authority as the bad boy. The man who could conceivably have been skippering England in the World Cup will be suspected as Pietersen Lite - he also dared, after all, to suggest that England might have missed Pietersen's best years by sacking him. But this is not the rebellion of a maverick, but that of a player of clinical, independent mind. The frustration of England's best players is real and significant.

It did not go unnoticed that Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, along with Morgan the most exciting stars in England's T20 firmament, who tweeted the link to George Dobell's report of Morgan's views on ESPNcricinfo. They are not in the habit of doing so daily, as nice as that would be. We can safely assume that they support the cause: the cause that T20 matters.

If you have not read Morgan's exasperation, you should take the opportunity because as much as the ECB insists that Friday night T20 stretched over most of the summer was the result of the most ambitious public survey they have ever undertaken, nobody dared to ask the question: "Do you want England players to play in the NatWest Blast?" The answer is obvious - it is just that the ECB felt obliged not to ask it.

England's cricketing summer is a scheduling nightmare. There is no easy solution. International cricket is all consuming. But England's professional circuit can only exist healthily if it touches its maximum potential spectator base in some form or other at some point in the summer. Otherwise, it just becomes a glorified development ground.

Personally, this correspondent has no truck with those who believe franchise cricket is the solution for professional T20 cricket in England. Morgan implied that he has sympathy with such a cause, but stopped short of carrying his rebellion so far. Franchise cricket is essentially parasitical, relying on players developed elsewhere. Sideline the county game, refuse to allow it a presence in the most glamorous competition, and it will be devalued so much that its supply line will be compromised.

Do a deal with the Pakistan board for mass involvement of their best players, who are barred from IPL for political reasons.

Instead, show the resolve to make the county game work harder. If 18 teams are sacrosanct, adopt rugby union's policy: abandon regional leagues (justified by the commercial appeal of derby matches and the reduced travelling time), introduce two divisions based on merit, allow Sky TV to show only Division One games if they so desire to showcase the best on offer, and find a better way to show highlights online, free to all. Make the game relevant and in your face, a game that works as well for the young, and impatient as those wedded to the subtleties of the longer game.

That connection with the English public, despite the best efforts of many, remains on dial-up when in India it is on Superfast Broadband. Participation figures in amateur cricket are down; the interest of many followers of England cricket does not extend beyond the international game and the dissatisfaction around the game is a concern. County grounds have improved beyond recognition in the past decade but total debts are around £100m - closer to £120m if you count advance payments made to some by the ECB.

Cricket in England can be appreciated most deeply when interest extends into the county game - a professional circuit we should treasure not disparage - but nobody should pretend it is an easy sell.

A condensed six-week hit of Twenty20 with every England player taking part in at least half the tournament would restore that connection most easily. Such ambitions can be delivered. Reduce the number of Tests by one, trim away three ODIs, be more flexible with releasing players from England series, and the job is done. Promote the tournament with conviction and finance two overseas players from central funds. Do a deal with the Pakistan board for mass involvement of their best players, who are barred from IPL for political reasons. If England's squad plays in only two-thirds of the games at least that is an improvement.

Do that well and there is an economic case that the overall financial pot will swell and that interest in the game will be broader.

Instead the NatWest Blast must prepare for a second season - a season in which a breakthrough in spectator numbers is essential - with Morgan warning that the standard is inadequate. He knows. Excluded from England's Test side last summer, he played in much of it.

There have been occasions - at The Oval, at Trent Bridge, on packed nights at Taunton, whenever there is a Roses match - when the potential of T20 in England is clear for all to see. There have been just as many nights when the failure to fill the grounds has been demoralising.

If ambitions for England players to play in the NatWest Blast are beyond the ECB then they should make an honest choice. Encourage them to take part in IPL and do everything to structure international tours so that they can do just that. Their continued exclusion from all that is good in T20 makes no sense. Morgan was right to say just that.