Fletcher blasts 'weak' county cricket

Duncan Fletcher has put himself on collision course with the counties by claiming that England's domestic cricket is getting worse, not better.

National coach Fletcher is today facing fresh calls to introduce new talent following the shattering of another Ashes dream.

But the Zimbabwean, who was in charge at Glamorgan for two seasons during the 1990s, clearly believes that the domestic game is not strong enough to prepare youngsters for the heat of Test battle - even after the introduction of a two-division Championship.

"I don't really know what county cricket was like seven or eight years ago," said Fletcher in the wake of England's three-day defeat at Trent Bridge which kept Australia on course for an Ashes whitewash.

"But I have seen a slight drop from 1997 when I was with Glamorgan.

"I saw that when I returned there in 1999. I haven't seen much county cricket because we are playing Tests at the moment but speaking to people and listening to players coming up they seem to think that is the case.

"England's main objective must be to raise the standard of county cricket so that when players move onto to Test cricket it's not a big jump

"But players have to realise they've got to improve their own game as well. They mustn't keep pointing at their counties and say give me this or give me that. They've got to realise a lot of hard work has to come from within."

Fletcher's comments are sure to upset those counties who are fundamentally opposed to two divisions and also believe that central contracts have hit the domestic game by often removing the top English players from the county campaign.

"It can always be more competitive and obviously there is a gulf between domestic and international cricket," said the Middlesex captain and former England bowler, Angus Fraser.

"But Duncan admits he hasn't watched a great deal of county cricket and if he is going to get a decent idea of what it's like he should spend a bit more time watching it rather than relying on other people's views.

"We play in Division Two and the standard is not as high as Division One. But it's pretty competitive, we are playing on good pitches and Middlesex are looking to develop our youngsters and produce international cricketers.

"We are very serious about that and we are trying to do the right things."

English cricket, meanwhile, has lost more than £300,000 as a result of having to refund spectators who had bought tickets for the fourth day of the Trent Bridge Test

But for some bad weather, the first two matches of the series - at Edgbaston and Lord's - would also have finished inside three days.

"Thank goodness we had a bit of rain during those two games," said England Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb. "Clearly if we get some premature finishes at Headingley and The Oval it will have a pretty devastating effect on the bottom line.