Is This The Start Of The County Exodus?

Alison Mitchell looks at the decision of Adil Rashid and Alex Hales to turn their backs on red-ball county cricket

- Alison Mitchell

 The decision of AlexHales and Adil Rashid,both 29, to walk away from red-ball cricket this season has led to concerns that this could be the start of an exodus of players from the long form of the game. To examine the degree to which these fears could be realised, the circumstances of the players in question need to be looked at closely.

Firstly, both are England cricketers who have ECB white-ball contracts and haven’t become Test regulars. Both have played a similar number of Test matches across a similar period (Hales 11 Tests between December 2015 and August 2016; Rashid 10 Tests between October 2015 and December 2016) and whilst Rashid in particular has been a force in Championship cricket for Yorkshire, England have regarded him as too expensive and have preferred to use Moeen Ali as the spin option in the last 12 months.

It is clear, by Rashid’s decision, that he either doesn’t harbour ambitions to force his way back in, or he doesn’t think there is any point trying.

Having an ECB white-ball contract means both Rashid and Hales earn an England salary as a supplement to their county wage. It’s believed such a contract can reach six figures at the upper end of the scale. This very fact, means they can afford to take a cut in their county salary by opting out of red-ball cricket.

For others who don’t have the cushion of an England deal, turning away from red-ball cricket would represent a huge risk to their livelihood. At the moment, it’s probably only the 14 players on ECB white-ball contracts, who would feel comfortable about doing this.

Secondly, Hales and Rashid are players with sufficient profile and talent that they have a substantial opportunity to pick up work in T20 leagues around the world, therefore supplementing their income that way. This winter, however, Hales was due to play in South Africa’s new T20 competition until it was cancelled.