I believe most of us would agree that despite Somerset’s outstanding team performance in the mauling of Northamptonshire which ensured the club’s first division status in the County Championship for another season, overall you would have to say that despite all the young talent at the club, it was another disappointing campaign.

In my view, the County Championship and more especially the highly entertaining Royal London One Day Cup, have been devalued in recent times, by the lure of money and those people at the top end of the scale, who in the main are not from the cricketing fraternity. They are more interested in making money than looking after the members and supporters of the non-elite of the county circuit and this will only increase in the years ahead if the ECB’s high performance level gets passed.

The old guard of supporters have been left in limbo with the emphasis now being put on white ball cricket, which at the same time brings in a shorter game and of course attracts those who like a drink or seven and the security increases as more people get ejected from grounds.

Is this really what the old fashioned supporter wants to see? Cricketing crowds are now all about the great divide - the purist and the drinker.

I really fear for the Royal London One Day Cup, not so long ago it was a major competition enjoyed by everyone, with the County Ground in Taunton almost packed to capacity, but how long before Royal London pull out? They are now supporting second eleven players from within the counties and it is fast losing its identity as one of the biggest and most popular competitions of all - it is like the FA Cup of cricket.

The other big topic of the moment, which I will go into more in the coming weeks, is the ECB’s High Performance review.

Don’t know about you, but the proposal by Andrew Strauss to run the County Championship through the summer months would suit all lovers of County Championship cricket but, and it’s a big but, it’s once again centred around money orientated high flyers who want the County Championship games cut from 14 to 10 - although in fairness, England captain Ben Stokes is totally against the idea.

What also concerns me is that Strauss and his ECB committee are planning to have three divisions of six teams, with two divisions of six conference teams and I don’t believe it takes rocket science to realise the top six teams would be made up of county teams who have test match venues - if that is the case, Somerset would be a Division 2 side.

Another concern would be surely that Strauss would be looking to England to regain their status as the best Test match side in the world and with the expected top players expected to be playing in Division 1, would those county sides be looking to attract the likes of Tom Abell, Tom Lammonby, Craig Overton and even James Rew who has recently extended his contract with Somerset? With things changing daily, you cannot rule out anything.