In the Guardian, Mike Selvey is highly critical of the ECB's move to stretch the county season at both ends, which he believes has compromised the championship's integrity.

So disrespectful is the schedule to the integrity of the County Championship – for which the winners will receive £500,000... – that some will have completed four matches before the daffs are over, with all the impact of the weather, and half the programme by the time the football World Cup kicks off. It is as if the County Championship, which should provide the breeding ground for future England Test cricketers, has become the stale bread surrounding a cash-cow filling of Twenty20.