From a packed schedule to the interference of the Hundred, county cricket's leading voices believe the four-day game can still be saved. The bashing of county cricket is a popular pastime in England, particularly at this time of year. But as the new season starts, there are reasons to be cheerful as well as fearful.
The county game is still envied by many countries around the world but in the shires there’s a genuine fear that the fabric of the game is being eroded by the gradual encroachment of private investment and the Hundred. Amen to that. But what happens next? What needs to change? And are county members – Luddites to some – holding back progress or priceless protectors of the summer sport as we know it? We gathered together some of county cricket’s most influential figures to garner opinion on how it can be fixed