PAUL EDWARDS: As this season enters its final six weeks, I think it's fair to consider how it has been among the most poisonous and divisive I can recall
I still do a little teaching. For one thing, it pays a few bills but for another, I rarely return to my first profession without being heartened by the enthusiasm, talent and kindness of young people.
And one of the principles I encourage my pupils to consider when teaching them English Literature or History is that the answer to any question of reasonable complexity is almost never simply yes or no.
In other words, however strong the arguments might seem to be in favour of one interpretation or another, there is always a qualification that can be found or, to put it more simply, always something that can be said for the another point of view.
The effect of this approach on my own political and social opinions barely matters. But as this season enters its final six weeks, I think it's fair to consider how it might help us deal with a summer which, in addition to its normal delights, has been among the most poisonous and divisive I can recall.
And also, since I am sometimes accused of not putting my head above the parapet, how it has led to me taking a particular, if qualified, side in a debate that is being conducted, in pretty uncivil terms, in Lancashire, a county I know very well and for which I have a huge fondness.
In other words, by the end of this column, you will know where I stand on one of the issues currently harming our game.
I'm in decent company when it comes to being dispirited by the current debate over the future structure and scheduling of county cricket in England.
There is little doubt over the chosen format for county fans (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
In his discussion with Andrew Strauss and Ian Ward on Sky Sports during the first day of the Test against South Africa Michael Atherton said how saddened he was by "the toxicity in the game at the moment."
Then he went on as follows: "I find it very frustrating whether it's on social media or the media or just the conversations around that there is quite a divide there.
"And I don’t think the ECB have been helpful in bringing the new short-form competition in and the way it was brought in.
"It was kind of promoting divisiveness and I hope we can get rid of that because we do a lot of good things here. When you look around the world, very few places have the variety and the support and the good cricket that the LV= Insurance County Championship can offer."
As ever with Atherton, there is a lot there: emotional commitment, astute analysis of the ECB’'s conduct and an accolade for the much-derided, much-loved Championship.
On the second point, it's surely astonishing, and a reflection of the ECB's outlook that they expect any reorganisation of divisions to take effect next year.
A few weeks ago, when Hampshire were beating Yorkshire at Scarborough, a colleague observed that the home side would be in danger of relegation if they lost. "How can we possibly know?" I countered.
"I am not a member of any county club. If I joined one, I'd want to join 18"
The assumption there will still be two divisions of 10 and eight in 2023 with two-up two-down, is fairly shaky. What's more, it might affect a county's vote in September. This is a point I know I've made before but the notion that changes will take immediate effect still seems to me an indication of the governing body's essential arrogance.
County cricket justifies itself in many ways; it might be dependent on the revenue it receives from Test matches etc. but it provides the players for those games in the first place and it is certainly not a Petri dish for the ECB's experiments.
This is why it is vital that, as far as possible, the counties decide on their common concerns and objectives and then listen very closely to the ECB's suggestions in September, when the important meetings will be held. Some of the ideas might well have merit. But then they should return to their HQs and be bound by a vote of the members on those proposals.
One of the most useful things to come out of this stramash is that people have noticed afresh that 15 of the 18 counties are members' clubs. This might be valuable. Why do you think no German football club wanted to join the short-lived European Super League last year? Because they knew their members would not wear it.
Lancashire has been at the forefront of this debate, although I'm sure some of its officials could have done without the publicity.
The clouds are forming over Old Trafford (George Wood/Getty Images)
An SGM is to be held at 9am on August 30 (the day after a Test and on which Lancashire may well be playing away in a Royal London Cup semi-final).
The first proposal on the table binds the chair to consult with the membership before any vote on next year's structure; the second binds Lancashire to vote against any reduction in first-class fixtures without the explicit approval of the membership.
I am not a member of any county club. If I joined one, I'd want to join 18. But if I were a Lancashire member, I would vote against the first motion at the SGM and in favour of the second.
I imagine my position on this might upset some of the many friends I have at Emirates Old Trafford. But one or two of those in power at Lancashire might consider why they have alienated so many moderates. I am not alone in this.
My position should not be taken as some sign that I approve of the current structure of the county game. At the Members' Forum, Lancashire's director of cricket, Mark Chilton, spoke with quiet eloquence of the workload his players have shouldered this year: six Championship matches in six weeks; five T20 games in eight days between May 27 and June 3; nine days' cricket between June 7 and June 19; six days cricket between June 23 and June 29.
That schedule should be considered by anyone who thinks county cricketers are pampered. At the same time, people might observe that on some of those days, a player might not appear on the field at all; or that in a normal summer some days will be lost to rain; or that squad rotation is an accepted part of professional sport and has long been so in Premier League football.
The Blast has captured the imagination (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
My own response to Chilton's very fair points is that the crowded schedule has not been caused by some sadistic fixture planners but because we are the only country in the world that has two short-form tournaments hogging a trifle over two months of the season and squatting the middle of the season.
In 2022, that season comprises 176 days from April 7 to September 29. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask that 70 of those days be devoted to the County Championship. (That's 14 four-day games plus two days travelling to and from away games, although the latter isn't always needed.)
There are those who think 10 four-day games will be plenty. But the ECB, and even one or two counties, employ far too many people who can read a balance sheet but have no clue about a scorecard.
Even more worryingly, they have no understanding of the love and loyalty shown by county members or the commitment they show towards their team. They enjoy the Blast and they rather like the Royal London Cup but it is the Championship – the path to the Test team – that matters most to them.
Without being presumptuous, I think I understand how such people feel at the moment. Even though I sit in the press box, I know that I am one of them.
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