While the World Cup is looming for the international teams it is almost pre-season time for the county sides around England. Many of them will be joined by a host of overseas players, arriving under various regulations involving passports, Kolpaks, great aunts and long-lost sisters. Jacques Rudolph is the latest big-name to leave behind international cricket for a county career while Saqlain Mushtaq has joined Sussex through his British wife. In The Times Christopher Martin-Jenkins says this is one of the areas the Schofield review needs to address.

Schofield’s team cannot claim that this is a matter beyond the brief they have been given by the ECB. The system that supplies England players has to be pertinent to the well-being of the national team. David Collier, the ECB chief executive, reports that no application from Yorkshire to register Rudolph has been received. He has written to the county to remind them of the conditions that must be fulfilled before a player from overseas can qualify.