Counties must see 'big picture' - ex-ECB boss Lamb
Former England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb believes county members must look at "the bigger picture" when considering the game's future.
Lamb says the commercial potential of the domestic T20 competition, introduced in 2003, has not been fully exploited, compared to tournaments like the Indian Premier League.
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And Lamb believes the proposed sale of franchises for The Hundred must go ahead as it will also produce a huge boost in income for the county clubs.
"Some people have talked about the monster we created but I think it's a shame the ECB didn't capitalise on what was our invention," Lamb told BBC Radio Northampton's The Cricket Show.
"I think we were prisoners of cricket politics, the way the county system works, and it's not the first British invention that's then been exploited by others and we've been left behind. The IPL, no one could have foreseen that (at the time).
"The sale of the franchises is going to provide the first-class counties with undreamt -of amounts of money which hopefully will be spent responsibly by those counties."
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Cricket has 'an ethos, a soul'
Lamb, 72, was in charge of the ECB, previously the Test and County Cricket Board, from 1996 to 2004, during which time central contracts for England's men's players were introduced along with a two-tier County Championship, as well as the T20 Blast, then called the Twenty20 Cup.
His departure from the post followed controversy over England's refusal to travel to Zimbabwe for a game during the 2003 Cricket World Cup - the points forfeited cost them a place in the next phase of the tournament.
Lamb said that on taking the job, his guiding belief was that cricket should be "a business within a game, not a game within a business".
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"Cricket is a multi-million pound business but essentially it's a sport - it has an ethos, a soul, and I wanted to emphasise that we wanted business to be the servant of cricket, rather than the master," he added.
"I was very lucky to have (Lord) Ian MacLaurin as my chairman - he and I took over at the back end of 1996 and we set out to try to improve standards at every level.
"We had extra revenue to spend from fairly lucrative television broadcasting contracts, so we were able to invest in many parts of the game that hadn't previously been funded. I hope we moved the game forward."
'Youngsters need heroes to emulate'
The introduction of central contracts played a part in the Ashes triumph of 20 years ago, when Michael Vaughan's England team defeated Australia on home soil.
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"One of the priorities for Ian and myself was to have a successful England men's team because that gives heroes for youngsters to emulate, it makes sponsors want to get involved with the game, it gives a feelgood factor throughout the sport," said Lamb.
"Although we had some reverses I like to think we laid the foundations and although sadly 2005, the famous Ashes victory, was after we'd left, people kindly said that we'd laid the foundations for that and we ought to accept some of the credit for what happened."
Lamb is also concerned about the number of injuries affecting current England cricketers, especially pace bowlers, and believes it is vital that a "happy balance" should be found between playing and resting.
"I was talking to somebody while watching a match yesterday and we were saying 'why is it that all the England fast bowlers seem to get so many injuries?'" he said.
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"It can't be from over-playing, is it from overtraining, overdoing it in the gym? And the chap I was talking to said 'no, [it's because] they don't play enough cricket'.
"I think he's got a point. (Ex-England cricketer) Alec Bedser said you only get fit for cricket by bowling and I think there's some truth in that. As a bowler, there is a certain type of fitness that you need, it's a rhythmical thing.
"Yes, it's good to have more time to rest and recuperate, more coaching, but if you compare the amount of cricket they play now with the amount we played back in the 1970s and early 80s, it bears no resemblance."
'The domestic schedule is a mess'
Despite concerns about the amount of cricket, and travelling involved, during the English season, Lamb wants the current 18 counties to remain.
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"There were people around me who said we've got far too many counties and if you were starting from scratch there's no way you would have, for instance, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northants, but the fact is we did and each of the counties is a centre of excellence," he said.
"They don't just play competitive professional county cricket, they provide coaching opportunities, they're a focus for cricket in that particular county."
He added: "The domestic schedule is a mess but on the other hand I can understand why it's a mess because it's jolly difficult for the schedulers to be able to do justice to all of the different forms of the game and keep everybody happy.
"I actually did the fixture list for eight years before I got the top job at ECB so I know just how difficult it is to please everybody. Stalwart county members always want what they want but they have to see the bigger picture."
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Tim Lamb was speaking to BBC Radio Northampton's Andrew Radd and Jake Sharpe
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