Traditionally the best players in the world have spent time in English County Cricket. This appears to be coming to an end with the forthcoming IPL. I see that David Hussey, an Australian signed to Nottinghamshire, has also signed for the IPL.

The IPL are already bragging about how they will see the end of the world class players playing in England because of their huge sums of money. Where will this end? (To my mind the ECB shouod break off all ties with the BCCI until it's sorted out).

Who is right? And how can it be resolved?

Good !

And that's supposed to be a bad thing? Personally, I welcome the end of all these International players playing in English County Cricket, because I beleive quite strongly that it's done English Cricket far more harm than good.

It's a moot point and many will argue otherwise, but our County game should not exist so that overseas International players can come over here and 'finish' their Cricketing education at OUR expense. Nor should they be allowed to get accustomed to our conditions nor should they be allowed to get a good close up look at our up and coming county cricketing prospects, nor should they be enabled to 'work out' the weaknesses in our current English International players.

I beleieve this is one of the reasons English Cricket has lagged behind the rest of the world in recent times - because we allow our opponents to come over here and get accustomed to our conditions and play against our players.

Imagine what it will be like in 10 years time when the next generation of players come to England never having played here previously in county cricket,should help the England team.Finally a reason to be grateful to the IPL.

Gee whiz

It will be a bit like the Australian domestic competition.

The problem is that the big names from overseas provide a pulling power to the county game. Without these we wouldn't see many quality players day in day out. I do agree that we shouldn't have too many non-english players, I would love to see one quality overseas player per side.

You may see this as a good thing. All it really shows is that the Indians are demanding something and the rest of the cricketing world are just bowing down and letting them do it.

I see KP has told them that no amount of money could make him play in the IPL.

I appreciate that Notts, but I don't see why 1) The Counties should need that 'pulling power' to get people in their grounds; are predominantly English players alone incapable of achieving that? and 2) I certainly do not see the Counties as being more important than the English national side - the vast majority of thier funding comes from the ECB, money that the English national side have generated. Counties alone cannot support themselves financially by gate receipts alone. So, if they cannot support themselves financially from gate receipts now, what difference does it make if no big names stars are there to draw in the crowds?

I do not (and I hope many others like me do not) want to see the Counties heading in the same direction as the football Premier League where clubs value themselves and their players far more highly than they do the national side - they can do this because they have the financial muscle to do it - out counties currently do not.

Is it any surprise therefore given this situation and the huge numbers of foriegn players currently playing in the Premier league that our National Football side have woefully under achieved for years now, just like the Cricket side?

Perhaps this might encourage people to spend a little more money on supporting the National side rather than the 'dropped in' International Stars of the County sides that are only here for the money, and not helping our National Game in any way other than lining their own pockets.

See how quickly all these International stars are switching their allegiance to who holds the biggest fistful of dollars?

I'd be quite happy seeing 0 International players and 0 Kolpaks - because I simply do not beleive that they help inprove the overall quality and standard of the County game. What's really stifling and strangling our County game are the sheer numbers of Counties playing in it - none of them are particularly strong and that's the reason they want to use overseas players and Kolpaks to boost and strengthen their ranks.

The solution is a simple one and I can't for the life of me understand why it hasn't happened - reduce down the number of Counties playing at the top level. This then creates a much stronger pool of players playing in fewer County sides without the need to bolster those sides with overseas and Kolpaks and it increases the competition for places.

This is effectively the situation that exists in Australian Cricket - fewer state sides with much stronger competition for places - this ensures that the players that do make it to the top of the game are truly quality players who can then easily go on to represent their country. We all ask ourselves how Australia keep churning out these 'quality' players and that's the answer - fewer sides with more competition for places.

You don't see Australia using overseas players or Kolpaks to bolster their ranks and they've dominated World Cricket for decades now so they must be doing something right.

Interestingly enough, you'll rarely see me defending anything the BCCI does, but in this instance I truly beleive they're doing us a favour - without realising it. For far too long now the County game in England has attracted overseas and Kolpak players like bees round a honey pot all wanting a share of that ECB money given to the Counties. That's the ONLY reason they're in our game - for the money. If the BCCI's IPL helps to remove those players from our game then they will have achieved something the spineless ECB were never able to - to stop this influx of foriegn players into our game that has so quickly and easily ruined our football leagues.

People may not accept or agree with my opinions, but think about our Cricket and Football games of yesteryear - the times before this great big influx of players and money into the game. England were far more successful at Football and far more successful at Cricket without them. The only things that have happened since those days is a steady decline in both national sides.

As an outsider looking in I have thought for long while that there are too many County clubs in England playing at the top level and if I could wave my magic wand I would start merging a few.

And hopefully in doing so come up with a more elite domestic competition.

Likewise in Australia and New Zealand, I am a strong advocate for New Zealand to feild two sides in the Australian domestic comp, a North Island and South Island team.

Acker, your opinions, views and solutions are far too reasonable and logical for them ever to become reality.

Start wielding the magic wand dude...

Yes. There are some people in New Zealand who have also thought about letting Australia field a team in their competition. "West Island" was the mooted name.

OK - provocative comment over! What's the reason for this not happening, Acker? It's an idea (yours, I mean) that has some merit. Is it just a matter of national pride and friendly rivalry between the Kiwis and the Aussies?

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