Hales hits out at domestic schedule

After a disappointing finish to the NatWest T20 Blast group stage, with six games out of eight being washed out and several teams progressing to the quarter-finals due to no results, England's domestic schedule came in for criticism from one of its leading T20 players.

Alex Hales, currently the No. 3 ranked T20 batsman in the world, tweeted his frustration after Nottinghamshire's bid to reach the last eight was foiled by unrelenting rain at Grace Road. He was also critical of the way the format is currently played, with most fixtures on Friday evenings during May, June and July, while Championship rounds take place from Sunday to Wednesday.

He described the schedule as "detrimental to skill level" and called for a return to playing T20 in a block, as was the case until 2014.

"Very disappointing way to get knocked out, but only ourselves to blame. Haven't been consistently good enough," he wrote, in the first of a series of tweets.

"Hopefully we can play it in a block next year too. Much better format. I'd be amazed if one cricketer in the country enjoys this schedule. Changing formats every week is detrimental to skill level.

"Imagine the next Ashes series playing Test match followed by an ODI two days after then a T20 the day after that. Then repeat!"

I'd be amazed if one cricketer in the country enjoys this schedule. Changing formats every week is detrimental to skill level

— Alex Hales (@AlexHales1) July 24, 2015

Nottinghamshire's last three fixtures have interchanged the three formats (or would have without the rain). They finished a Championship fixture at Horsham on Tuesday, traveled to Leicester for their final T20 fixture on Friday and then took on Warwickshire in the opening round of the 50-over Royal London Cup on Saturday.

Hales' comments were supported by fellow England internationals Jason Roy and Tim Bresnan. Roy retweeted Hales, saying "couldn't agree more", while Bresnan replied saying "agree with you too".

The NatWest T20 Blast was relaunched last season as a competition to be played in a regular Friday night slot after ECB research into what fans wanted. Previously, the Friends Life t20 and Twenty20 Cup were scheduled in a block in the middle of the summer, which was even more vulnerable to spells of bad weather.

The ECB's chief executive, Tom Harrison, is overseeing a full-scale review of the English domestic game, the results of which are expected to be announced at the end of the current season.