‘There’s no problem with county system’ – Micky Arthur slams England players over poor Test form

According to Micky Arthur, English cricketers are not scoring enough runs in the longer format to win matches. He pointed out that County Cricket is not to be blamed and believes the team’s failure is due to a lack of game practice.

England has not been at their best in Tests in recent years. They played in India in the early days of 2021 and lost the series 1-3. They lost to New Zealand in the home series after that. India then visited England to play a five-match series and the visitors lead it by 2-1. (The final match of the series is yet to be played). England were completely dominated by Australia in the Ashes, they lost 0-4.

In the wake of England’s defeat in Australia, some major changes occurred in English cricket. Initially, managing director Ashley Gils and head coach Chris Silverwood were sacked, and later batting coach Graham Thorpe resigned.

Arthur spoke to the Times about the situation. He said, “England haven’t scored enough runs. It’s as simple as that. If you want to lay the blame, you can lay it right there. County cricket isn’t to blame.

“For so long county cricket has been a really good producer of international players. I don’t think there’s a problem with the system… If you want the strength early season, unfortunately, you are going to have to stop the players from going to the IPL.

“They are playing there in the early part of the season just before the first tests. You need your best players playing county cricket to prepare for that.”

England’s series against New Zealand begins in the first week of June, which leaves them little time to practice as many of the players will be taking part in the ITL.