Northants chief Smith says counties shouldn’t be made to pay for England’s Ashes debacle

As is commonplace following any poor series from our national team, blame is directed at a number of factors and one of those is the domestic structure.

The ECB have stated that a review into the Australian debacle will take place in the upcoming weeks, but already a former chairman of the board, Lord MacLaurin, has said that 18 counties should become 12.

But Smith doesn’t hold much store with that view, saying: “It’s a cheap comment really and it happens all too often.

“When England are winning nobody says anything but when they lose it suddenly is the fault of the counties.

“I personally think that the county game is in good shape at the moment, a lot of good young players are being produced and the problems that are supposed to exist just aren’t there.”

And Smith added that a lot of the scorn that will come down on to the county game is a result of the margin of defeat down under.

He said: “The key thing is the way England lost.

“If it had been one or two-nil none of this would’ve come out, but a 5-0 loss makes everything seem a lot worse than it is.

“Are the concerns that are coming out necessarily down to what is happening at the counties? I don’t think so.”