English game must crush the culture of complacency

The England and Wales Cricket Board has a mission statement. It is to possess the best team in the world by 2007. They have one problem (at least). The Australian team play a quality of cricket that no other side in the world can compete with and the gap is widening between them and everybody else.

But why are they the best? It is simple. They have better players. This, however, is no fluke, because as individuals, and as a team, they are more motivated, committed, professional and hard-working than any other side in the world.

An example of this is the attitude shown by Australia's fast bowlers. They get up at 7am and go to the hotel pool to do their swimming and stretching. There is no rucking and moaning, as in every England side I played in. Then at the end of the day they return and do the same. These cricketers work harder at being better.

Australia also has a wonderful outdoor climate, magnificent facilities and huge investment from a government that takes pride in how its sportsmen perform.

When searching for ways to improve the standard of cricket in England, we look to Australia. As Australia has for years, the ECB now has its best players contracted to the board rather than the counties. The ECB has also set up an Academy. This is currently in Adelaide, Australia, but from October 2003 it will be at Loughborough University in England.

Such investment will be wasted, however, if the players are not managed correctly. There is no doubt that advances have been made in the man-management of the England side since Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher took control three-and-a-half years ago, but following this winter's casualty list there must be an inquiry into why so many English fast bowlers are picking up injuries. Any inquiry should also investigate how certain selectorial decisions were made during the end of last season and for this tour.

Graham Thorpe and Darren Gough should never have been selected for the trip to Australia. Recently they have been as reliable as a Jeffrey Archer testimony. Thorpe's withdrawal and Gough's ongoing knee problem got the tour off to the most negative of starts.

The selection of Chris Silverwood for the Perth Test also had a touch of desperation about it. The Yorkshire fast bowler had not played a first-class game, one of the criteria for Test selection laid out last summer, since an injury to the same ankle that troubled him during the third Test curtailed his season in August.

Injuries to Simon Jones, Ashley Giles, John Crawley and Alex Tudor cannot be helped, but one does wonder whether England tempted fate by travelling with players still to prove their fitness. One of them was Andrew Flintoff, and nobody is sure yet whether the Lancashire all-rounder is fit to play in the one-day series which starts next week. The blame for this is being passed around like a ticket to the fourth day of the Melbourne Test match. Flintoff's problems stem from his selection for the third Test against India last summer after being diagnosed with a double hernia.

Aware that cricket is not played in as many schools as it used to be – only three per cent of children in a survey published yesterday said cricket was the sport they played most at school – the ECB is investing a lot of time and effort into encouraging young people to play.

County cricket is usually blamed for the ills in the English game. But it is not the principle of county cricket that is the problem rather than the structure, and the people working within it. The structure is geared towards quantity, not quality, and the overwhelming majority employed within it do not work hard enough. It is no coincidence that during my career at Middlesex the two people who put in the most time and effort were the current Australian coach, John Buchanan, and their opening bat, Justin Langer.

The Australian captain, Steve Waugh, and indeed most overseas players who play in England, speak positively about our domestic game. They say the standard is high and there is plenty of young talent about. Their one criticism is that there is too much of it. There is. If the County Championship could somehow be reduced to 12 or 14 games, this would give players the time they need to practise and improve their skills.

Facilities must improve but counties find it hard to do this because they have no money. This is because too many players are paid too much for being average. Unlike the Australian system, in which the best-paid first-class cricketer earns less than the lowest-paid centrally contracted player, such players in England can lead a comfortable existence without going on to represent their country.

Unfortunately for the English game, too many players fall into this category. They do not have to make and are not prepared to make the sacrifices needed to reach the top. And it is a sad reflection that the players who command the highest salaries are those who are good, but not good enough to play Test cricket.

If players were paid less, the extra monies made available could then be used to provide better coaching, training, technical support and facilities, all of which are vital in producing talented cricketers.

This, however, would be like asking a turkey to vote for Christmas. But through not doing it they will probably see their feathered colleagues eaten on Boxing Day in Melbourne.