It’s freezing cold and everywhere is flooded, so it must be the start of the county cricket season. Surrey, last year’s champions, head for Old Trafford on Friday, in what should be a three-sweater day, aiming to make it three titles in a row. And who would bet against them? It’s a superb tournament, the county championship, much more than just an opportunity for elderly gentlemen to spread their wings with a sandwich lunch. But it could certainly do with some reforms. This goes against a lot of current thinking, but why not revert to three-day matches with a points system heavily weighted against draws? This would provide considerably more excitement, with no excuse for spending ages building a big first innings, as well as providing more elbow room for other competitions.

Ben Stokes is dead right in trying to play agressive cricket and the counties should be encouraged to do the same

Nor would it be detrimental to grooming players for Test cricket.........

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