England has had an underwhelming performance in the Ashes 2021-22. It trails 0-3 against Australia and has lost the turn. Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen has an exciting suggestion to improve England's Test cricket.
It has been a scary ride for England so far in the 2021-22 Ashes. It trails 0-3 in the five-Test series, meaning that the host has retained the urn. With no promising signs of improvement, it is staring at a whitewash. In the meantime, former English skipper Kevin Pietersen has suggested an exciting change to revive England's Test cricket.
As per Pietersen, England should bring structural change in the First-Class domestic competition. He suggests that making the FC structure franchise-based, like The Hundred, would make the competition even more competitive, with teams hungry for wins. He feels that the current structure of the prevailing County Championship is dull and does not serve appropriately to England's Test players.
"When I first started playing first-class cricket in England, the intensity of a County Championship match was like a Test match. It was as tough as anything. I learned my trade against some of the greatest players in the world every week. The Leicestershire side we came up against in 2003 featured Virender Sehwag, Brad Hodge, Paul Nixon, Jeremy Snape, Phil DeFreitas and Charlie Dagnall. When I made 355* against Leicestershire in 2015, I would have made 250 without pads on. It was a moment when I realised just how far county cricket had fallen," he wrote in his column for Betway.
Pietersen has advised that the County Championship should continue to treat as a breakout platform for upcoming stars. However, to serve England's Test team better, the intensity needs to be escalated that can only happen through a franchise-based eight-team competition in a round-robin format. He feels that the money in these franchise-based competition will allow the players to play alongside big players, serving them better to excel in the format.
"We need to produce lucrative, high-quality, interesting competitions that reward and improve the best players. This could be one. This Ashes defeat needn't be a total failure if they [ECB] can use it to implement proper change for the Test side," Pietersen concluded. England plays the fourth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from Wednesday.
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