habib is outright the worst test batsman i've ever seen for england. so ****.Hick, Crawley, Ramprakash, Bailey, McGrath, Moxon, Barnett, Fairbrother, Hayes, Curtis, Barnett, Ed Smith, Maynard, Morris, James, Afzaal, Habib are the first set of names that trip off the tongue
It'd be harsh to say that Hameed has "failed at international level", though - in fact I think most of his hype came after he'd looked OK in the Tests he played. (Also true of Hick and Fairbrother if you include ODIs).Yeah Duckett was certainly the one I was most excited about, had a brilliant season and played some really standout innings. Hameed as well I suppose.
They have two divisions; the minnows play in division two.inevitable when you have a domestic comp with so many teams. The gap to Test cricket is that much larger
Duckett was picked straight from Div 2They have two divisions; the minnows play in division two.
In theory this should work well; first step up from division two to division one, and then from there on to test cricket.
It still means all the talent in the country is divided amongst all the 18 odd teams. You never have a perfect situation where the top 130 cricketers are in Div 1 and the next 130 are in Div 2. Realistically some of the best cricketers end up in Div 2 because that's their county/better money/opportunities while some cricketers just make up the numbers in Div 1 or are part of the county's long term development or something.They have two divisions; the minnows play in division two.
In theory this should work well; first step up from division two to division one, and then from there on to test cricket.
That makes absolutely no sense. Unless I'm mistaken, players don't get promoted to division 1 teams when they start performing. You can have strong and weak players in each time in either division. Division 1 might be slightly higher standard but it's not like every single player in Division 1 is better than every single player in division 2.They have two divisions; the minnows play in division two.
In theory this should work well; first step up from division two to division one, and then from there on to test cricket.
That's what I always thought, but when you consider how many overseas players (& kolpak etc.) in every team over there it helps a bit with the quality.It still means all the talent in the country is divided amongst all the 18 odd teams. You never have a perfect situation where the top 130 cricketers are in Div 1 and the next 130 are in Div 2. Realistically some of the best cricketers end up in Div 2 because that's their county/better money/opportunities while some cricketers just make up the numbers in Div 1 or are part of the county's long term development or something.
On top of that it's better to have the best 100 or so cricketers just play each other all the time rather than the best 250 or so play each other. Sure you get more styles and techniques and conditions in such a large competition, but the decline in quality makes you wonder if it's worth it