DISQUIET at the recent decision to exclude Minor Counties sides from the C&G Trophy after the current season continues to rumble on locally.

And some statistics unearthed by Herefordshire CCC scorer Jim Morris go a long way to contradicting the impression given as a justification, in some quarters, that the second-class game fails to feed players through to the sport's higher echelon.

"Of 294 English-qualified players who took part in the County Championship last season, 47 had also played for a Minor County," said Morris. "And seven have England caps."

Of the current England set-up, Andrew Strauss, who played for Oxfordshire, Stephen Harmison (Northumberland) and reserve wicket-keeper Chris Read (Devon) all have experience of the Minor Counties game.

Recent England players Dominic Cork (Staffordshire) and Aftab Habib (Berkshire) made their first impact in the sport at Minor Counties level, too.

Morris points out that Minor Counties players can also show up their supposed betters in direct competition.

"Michael Vaughan scored an eight-ball duck for Yorkshire against Herefordshire, Matthew Hoggard failed to take a wicket against us, while Strauss was out second ball for four for Middlesex when Herefordshire beat them at Luctonians," he said.

Morris' research shows an unusually high proportion of current wicket-keepers who have progressed to the top level from Minor Counties cricket.

"Mark Wallace played for Wales, Read and Carl Gazzard of Somerset both played for Devon, Jonathan Batty played for Oxfordshire, and Paul Nixon played for Cumberland," he said. "And Steve Adshead and Ismail Dawood have gone on from Herefordshire to Gloucestershire and Yorkshire respectively."

Both Adshead and Dawood have rejoined the first-class game after unsuccessful attempts to break through first time around and Herefordshire CCC secretary Pete Sykes sees this as one of the merits of the Minor Counties competition.

"Both Adshead and Dawood have had a second chance but, without Minor Counties cricket, I'm sure both would have been lost to the game," he said. "It is useful vehicle for maintaining younger players who have not initially made the grade."

Sykes also speculated whether the competition sponsors realised what impact the decision to exclude Minor Counties sides might have for them.

"On a marketing scale, C&G are being denied advertising in half the country," he said.

"I wonder if they have looked at the implications of the First Class Forum's decision which also denies the opportunity for half of the cricket followers in the country to see first-class players playing in their own county."