Four into three can work

Essex celebrated last season's Pro40 title but how much longer will it be in the fixture list? © Getty Images

At the same time as the workload on international players has been brought to the fore by MCC and ICC committees, the English domestic scene has again come under the spotlight for its volume of cricket. One of the two points not immediately approved from the Schofield Report was the scrapping of the Pro40, a move that would reduce the county game to just three competitions.

As with many of the Schofield recommendations the idea of removing the Pro40 isn't exactly revolutionary. It supports what the players said in a PCA survey earlier in the season, where only 22% believed the current format was working. Nowhere are 40-over matches played in international cricket and it is run during the second half of the season when fatigue is starting to set in. Teams who are chasing Championship prizes understandably concentrate on that competition - and it even struggled to attract a sponsor, which is a sure sign of a dud idea.

The ideal format for the domestic season is three tournaments spanning four days, 50 overs and 20 overs. The main limited- overs competition should run throughout the season, therefore allowing constant practice and preparation for the international format. The current mid-summer Twenty20 works well and the game is suited to a two or three-week block.

With one less competition the 50-over matches could be spread and given a more 'stand-alone' feeling. In The Sunday Telegraph Steve James recently said that Surrey's Friends Provident match against Sussex benefited from not being crammed at the end of a Championship game. Players could be given extra time to switch between formats, helping to lose that inferior image one-day cricket still holds.

But the loss of an entire competition won't come easily. The county game is, largely, still run by members who want as much cricket as possible to watch which, in turn, provides a key income stream for the county. Also, it is the only domestic scene in the world that is watched by more than a handful of people. It is unique in that the size of the country allows fans to follow their teams throughout a summer. They need to be persuaded that a value-for-money attitude has to be replaced by a quality not quantity view. And, in real terms, losing the Pro40 means only nine days less cricket a year per county and a maximum of five home matches.

However, despite the Schofield recommendation there is plenty going right for county cricket at the moment. Two divisions have worked in the Championship, and Twenty20 is becoming the lifeblood of many counties. Debates surrounding the structure have rumbled on for years, but the domestic scene is actually in reasonably strong shape, an image which is boosted by England call-ups for the likes of Ryan Sidebottom. It isn't just a coincidence he performed well at Headingley; he's learnt his game over a number of seasons rather than on the international stage like many of the younger bowlers. There are others like Sidebottom out there.

In recent years county cricket has become better at looking more outwardly and not just at itself. It is now receiving benefits from that outlook with Peter Moores releasing England's contracted players back to their teams between the second and third Tests. However, there is still room for improvement, and a move to slim down the season would be a clear sign that everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Declaration of intent
Not even the Lord's scoreboard knew what was happening. Andrew Caddick and Steffan Jones were walking off the pitch on the second morning against Middlesex with the score reading 50 for 8. "Rain Stopped Play" it flashed up - a reasonable guess after the recent weather - but, in fact, Justin Langer had declared. His team had barely managed to get the ball off the square and Langer felt he may as well let his bowlers have a dip under the clouds. But the move backfired as the sun came out and Middlesex built a lead of 202.

"It was quite a brave decision that Justin took. He wanted to get the best of the conditions and frankly we had been struggling to put bat on ball," said Brian Rose, Somerset's director of cricket. "He [Langer] thought that he should give his bowlers a chance to put Middlesex under the same pressure. If we'd scratched around for another 15 to 20 runs it would have made next to no difference to the match."

Middlesex were not enamoured with Langer's decision, as it denied them a bowling point, but the tactic brought stories of another era when such decisions weren't so unusual. One of the scorers at Lord's recounted a 1977 match when Monte Lynch bagged a pair before lunch against Middlesex. Surrey had been skittled for 49 on a rain-affected surface and, feeling his team's best chance of winning was to continue bowling, Mike Brearley declared after one ball of Middlesex's first innings. Surrey collapsed again, for 89, and Brearley made an unbeaten 66 in a nine-wicket win. Langer's gamble didn't quite have the same success.