Four months' break is a luxury in today's ever-increasing schedule of cricket and simply must not be wasted by our cricketers.
There are three main options: cricket in England; training in New Zealand; complete rest. It is important that our players take the appropriate option for their current needs.
Given
New Zealand's schedule over the last six months hasn't been overly gruelling, complete rest should not be a priority. That leaves more cricket or winter training.
At the conclusion of the summer each player should be aware of the areas that need improvement. Technical issues will have surfaced that must be addressed and technical improvements take time to develop and ingrain. Often a competitive environment is the worst place to develop new technical skills as, under pressure of competition, most will revert to what they know best.
However, quality match practice, such as county cricket, provides an ideal place to develop skills.
County cricket is a very good standard. It has had its detractors over the years and I'll concede there are some average cricketers making great livings as seasoned pros, but England is experiencing a cricketing renaissance and there are also some very fine players around the traps.
Throw in the two-overseas-players policy, Kolpak players (essentially South African cricketers with visas that allow them to play as locals), and the standard, I believe, is clearly better than our domestic competition.
It's attractive to have our best players taking part over there and it's a financial bonus for the individual, too. The volume of cricket and exposure to some of the world's best players in a slightly more relaxed environment is great for fostering tradesmanlike organisation, understanding and consistency in one's game. But it is a day-to-day grind and players must ensure that county cricket is what their game needs, not their wallets.
The players on county cricket duty are the right ones. Stephen Fleming (Nottinghamshire) responds to day-in, day-out play to experiment in match scenarios; Scott Styris (Middlesex) could do with practice at countering the plans bowlers formulate against him and do plenty of bowling himself; Andre Adams (Essex) simply needs play; and Daniel Vettori (Warwickshire) has no technical deficiencies but could do with learning to get people out again.
While many of our fringe players will get match practice with the 'A' programme, I believe the most used development resource over the break should be the high performance centre at Lincoln.
Our top-order batsmen, in particular, have technical issues which can only be fixed in a controlled environment.
For many, match play should only come at the end of an extensive skills development process.
It would disappoint me to see some of our best players playing meaningless cricket at the expense of overhauling their techniques.
Opinion by
Four months' break is a luxury in today's ever-increasing schedule of cricket and simply must not be wasted by our cricketers.
There are three main options: cricket in England; training in New Zealand; complete rest. It is important that our players take the appropriate option for their current needs.
Given
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