Gareth Batty: I know why the English game is not strong enough

I am very pleased to see Andrew Strauss as director of England cricket. He wants the game to be as strong as it can be. Under the current system, though, I am not sure that is possible.

Take a look at the last round of Championship matches. Ninety one wickets fell on the opening day, an average of 13 per game. That is an obscene number and I have an idea of why it happened.

Most counties had played a Twenty20 fixture two days before. Some people might think that, because T20 and first-class cricket are still the same sport, it should be easy to adapt. I can assure you that it is not the case.

The demand on players is huge and it just does not work. The skills required in Twenty20 are so different from those needed in the four-day game and it is difficult to switch codes.

Let me be clear: I have no agenda here. I just want the best for English cricket. I know certain decisions have to be made but when that happens, people need to think first and foremost about the standard of cricket. I am not convinced that is happening.

Here is an example. We play on very true wickets at The Kia Oval and it is rare to see a Championship game here finish in three days. Yet players from other counties wonder why we don’t prepare bowler-friendly surfaces, simply to make the games finish earlier and give our players a little more rest. That cannot be right.

What is the solution? To me, it is obvious. You play the Twenty20 in a block in the middle of the summer. I know there are sound commercial reasons for playing mostly on Friday nights. But look at the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash in Australia. Those tournaments are played in blocks and they work.

People talk about the lack of quality spin bowlers in English cricket. How do we propose to find them if we play so many four-day games in April and May, when the conditions do not suit slow bowling? How about playing more Championship matches in late summer, when the pitches are drier?