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The world has come crashing down on English cricket over the past week and everyone has been wheeled out to have their say politicians, 'in-my-day' players, actors and actresses, disc-jockeys and retired jump jockeys.

I felt there was always going to be a danger that the game of cricket would be lambasted and not the cause that leaves our Test team in the sorry state that it is in. I refer of course, to the tired, out-of-date system that is county cricket.

The base of cricket in this country is on the right lines at the introduction level with Kwik Cricket, the primary schools initiative, which is active throughout the country and serviced by a host of full-time cricket development officers.

Representative schoolboy cricket is strong, too, and there is an excellent link between the England Schools Cricket Association and the Development of Excellence of the England and Wales Cricket Board under the leadership of Hugh Morris. We, in England, are market leaders in many aspects of coaching and management and I bristle at the accolades repeatedly thrown at the Australian Cricket Academy. There is a finishing school for cricketers which has many detractors in its own country. Our under-19 national team win most matches and are one-day world champions. It should be blindingly obvious to everyone that our problems begin after the under-19s.

County cricket has served us so well but to me it no longer works. Our competitors are now well organised and geared for international cricket, with central contracts and a format that is in place solely to benefit the national team. In England, there will have to be a massive change of emphasis by county committees and membership if we are to move away from our dreadful position on the international ladder.

When I was England coach, I received many letters from county members asking us not to select a certain player because he was crucial for the next game, while at Derby recently Sky Sports conducted a vox pop. People around the ground were asked the question: ``Would you rather Derbyshire won the championship or England won the Ashes?''

The answer, incredibly, was the former. It really does need spelling out that the counties depend on the hand-out from the ECB in order to survive. This revenue comes from sponsorship, advertising and TV rights generated by the national team.

In England, we have long admired the Australian set-up. The Sheffield Shield is contested between six state teams who play each other twice - 10 matches. Next season in England we will have two divisions of nine teams each but they will play each other twice. I would like to see them play each other once.

As for one-day cricket in Australia, there is only one competition. In England we have three with a fourth evening competition proposed. I would go the Australian way with just the one. This, I accept, is radical stuff but I am only interested in the national team. Any change in our format and constitution would be voted on by the First Class Forum. What is the First Class Forum? Well, we are back to the counties again - they are the senior management of each county . . . who are voted into those positions by the county members.

Turkeys do not vote for Christmas and memberships would, understandably, protect their own interest, but they do have a remarkable amount of power, and say, in the running and well being of the game. It must be spelt out that county cricket no longer produces a competitive Test team. It used to, but not any more.

We should also move heaven and earth to establish the newly-formed Premier Leagues and give them real meaning. This area of our domestic game should mirror Australian Grade cricket. If Premier Leagues were strong there would be no necessity for full-time second XI county cricket. County staffs, at a stroke, would be reduced to around 17 and there would be a direct path from league to Test match cricket. I am baffled at the massive resistance in the shires to Premier Leagues. Again, this can only be parochial self-interest.

This attitude extends to the pitches. Mostly, they are unbelievably sub-standard. There is a directive from the ECB that pitches should be dry, straw-coloured, with pace and bounce. I have seen one pitch this season that fulfilled their criteria -Taunton. Time and again I have read and heard captains say: ``We are leaving grass on for this game or we will play these on a bare, used pitch.''

There is legislation in place to penalise counties for poor pitches. It is hardly ever implemented. Back to Australia again. Most of the games go the distance. Here in England, two-day games are nothing out of the ordinary.

Let us also look closely at the situation regarding Andrew Flintoff. A number of counties have expressed an interest in Lancashire's young star and, in a cricketing sense, big money is being talked about.

I find this absolutely incredible. As I have mentioned, most counties rely heavily on the ECB hand-out but Lancashire are not one of them. They are almost self-sufficient. Lancashire would be quite within their rights to say, ``OK the gloves are off - let us have a transfer system where the best players go to the wealthier clubs.''

Flintoff has been brought up through the schools system in Lancashire and they have invested much time and effort on his behalf. So where are the ethical values in a rival county declaring an interest in a player who is still under contract? Of course, we do not know who is calling the shots: the other counties, Flintoff himself, or Flintoff's agent, but it is worth reminding the young man that runs and wickets pay the rent; the rest just falls into place.