FORMER England coach David Lloyd has called for a dramatic overhaul of county cricket in the wake of England's Ashes humiliation.

And the ex-Lancashire player has questioned the line-up of the panel selected to conduct the ECB's post-mortem into the 5-0 whitewash.

Golf administrator Ken Schofield is the surprise choice to chair the committee set up by the ECB to produce a long-term plan, make recommendations on how to regain the urn in 2009 and seal a one-day tournament success between now and 2011.

Schofield is joined on the panel by former England captain Nasser Hussain, ex-Test players Angus Fraser and Nick Knight, Somerset's director of cricket Brian Rose, ECB deputy chief executive Hugh Morris and former England and Surrey coach Mickey Stewart.

M.E.N. columnist Lloyd believes the panel must look into the structure and funding of the county game if things are to improve for England, and that clubs should be forced to field at least nine England-qualified players.

"The counties are basically 18 private businesses who are dependent on the handout from the ECB from the money pumped in by England's sponsors and the TV deal. Without that money there would be no counties and no acadamies," said Lloyd.

"How that money is allocated has to be a big part of Schofield's remit. I think some counties are wrong in their recruitment of players.

"There is no point in counties having academies if they do not promote their players into first-class cricket early.

Changes

"The panel should recommend that a county has to field at least nine players who are eligible to play for England and who have not already played for another country.

"And we have to get back to one division, because nobody cares which division you are in. Every county gets the same amount of money.

"We should also do away with second XI cricket. The ECB Premier Leagues should be better financed and those who normally play in second XIs would play for Premier League clubs which would provide tougher cricket.

"If people think this is radical, then they should look to Australia. Teams play six matches in the Pura Cup, their equivalent of the County Championship, that's it. And no-one watches. It is simply used to blood players for the Test team.

"I am a champion of county cricket, but we have to make the national side top of the pile like they do in other countries around the world."

And Lloyd feels that with some members of the panel still involved in the ECB and county cricket, there could be a conflict of interests which raises doubts over its independence.

"On the panel there is someone from the ECB and two still involved in the county game, but this needs to be completely independent if it is going to work, certain parts of the game shouldn't be able to feather their own nests from this," said Lloyd.

"I hope the panel is just a steering group and they are planning to go out and canvass the opinions of a host of people involved in the sport

"Three they definitely should speak to are Tony Greig, Mark Nicholas and Dave Gilbert, all of whom I think should have been on the panel in the first place.

"Greig is a former England captain who has been involved in cricket at the highest level almost all his life, while Nicholas has been involved with Hampshire, has radical views on the game and has watched cricket around the world. Gilbert is an Australian who had spells in charge of both Surrey and Sussex. They all know how a national team should be put together.

"I know if this panel ends up being just a talking shop, Nasser Hussain will walk away. I would have liked to have been on the panel, and if Schofield wants to talk to me, I won't pull any punches."

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