I HAD to laugh when the ECB announced they were doing a comprehensive review following England's Ashes humiliation.

I can save everyone the time and effort, because I still have the notes from the last one when I was England coach in 1999.

The topics under discussion will be exactly the same, the only difference will be the people involved.

The review has to look at central contracts. At the moment, they are too long and therefore provide a comfort zone for the players. That is why you get the performances like the ones we have seen from Steve Harmison.

I also think county cricket needs a complete revamp to help produce better Test players and to also make it easier for Test players to comfortably slot back into the county game when they need to find some form.

At the moment, counties play 16 championship matches, that should be reduced to 12 with the games being scheduled around Test matches so that players can turn out for counties between Tests if they need some time in the middle.

Burn out

In Australia they play just six matches in their county championship, the Pura Cup. Nobody watches, in fact I think it is free to get in, but the games are fiercely competitive because the players only have a handful of games to show what they can do. It also stops the players burning out.

We need to go back to having one division in the Championship. Does anyone actually give a stuff as to what division their county is in? This way Lancashire and Yorkshire would always play each other twice a season - as it should be.

There should be one less one-day competition in domestic cricket. We have the Twenty20 Cup, which brings in the dosh, the 40-over one-day league and the 50-over ECB Trophy - that's too many and we need to get rid of one.

We have had a few e-mails at Sky suggesting Ian Botham should take over as coach from Duncan Fletcher. Do me a favour. Beefy does lunch, dinner, fine wine, golf, fishing, helicopters and limousines - he does not do nets!

Fletcher has received an awful lot of stick, and he may well step down after the World Cup, but you have to remember he is just a coach. He asked not to be a selector in the summer but that idea was refused.

But he does not put tour itineraries together, nor change the field or the bowler during the game.

Weaknesses

The coach prepares the players to play each game and is the first lieutenant to the captain. He gives information on the opposition's strength and weaknesses and helps formulate plans - but he does not go out in the middle and make the mistakes.

I can promise you that when a bowler bowls short and wide consistently it is not in `the plan.' Also, when three players on this trip drag their back foot out while playing defensively to the spinner it is not the fault of the coach.

Please do not tell me Fletcher has suddenly become a bad coach

Now it's the one-dayers, and after yesterday's Twenty20 humiliation I fear more of the same.

The first mistake England made was not picking Mal Loye.

The Lancashire opener should have played in the Champions Trophy in India and should be in the World Cup squad. By not selecting him I can only assume the selectors feel county cricket is a poor yardstick.

In our last 20 ODIs we have scored 20 per cent less runs than the opposition and the key to England success in the tri-nations series is to take advantage of the fielding restrictions by getting the batting order right. Kevin Pietersen has to bat at three, and Andrew Flintoff at five.

Michael Vaughan's return, which for me is a massive gamble, at least allows Flintoff to do what he really wants, that is to concentrate on batting and bowling. But his ankle isn't right and I would love to know how many injections he has had in the last six weeks.

What do you think? Have your say.