Too much cricket

County cricket is best described as a treadmill for most players. It is a gruelling schedule at the best of times, with players rest times squeezed further by the introduction of Twenty20 (however successful that has been). On Monday, Kent were convincingly beaten by Middlesex at Canterbury in what was their 12th day of competetive cricket out of the previous 14 days. That is, so early in the season, nothing short of madness. No wonder top players like Wayne Parnell, Justin Kemp and Joe Denly looked jaded in the field. I'd be bloody shattered.

The simple solution is to reduce the amount of cricket played. Unfortunately opinion seems to be divided on how to do this. I've already had numerous arguments about this with people already, but it hasn't shaken me from my position - That the Pro40 league should be axed.

It seems, to coin a phrase from the excellent Coen Brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou?, the acme of foolishness to continue with a domestic competition that does not mirror one played at international level. Twenty20 is now played globally, the Friends Provident trophy has its 50-over big brother and obviously the county championship is stretched out over five days. There is no international 40 over tournament. Opponents of this view point to the fact it gives the fans a bit more for their money than Twenty20 and yet still finishes early enough so that a whole day is written off. Yet I've already been to 2 Friends Provident matches this season which kicked off at 10.45 and finished at between 6 and 6.30 - hardly the dead of night and you see 100 overs of cricket.

The other advantage to, in my view, stretching out the FP trophy into a bigger competition to usurp the Pro40 is that it incorporates exactly the same rules as international 50 over cricket, such as the Fielding Powerplays. It is useless, in my opinion, to bring in promising young english players and then only pay early-season lip service to a competition that some of them will be playing for their country in the future.

To persist with Pro40, in the packed schedule that county players endure, is madness and will only lead very quickly to player burnout. If Twenty20 must be accomodated (which, for all my grumbling, it must) then something has to give. It makes no sense for any of the other competitions to lose out.