James Tredwell has criticised the state of County Championship wickets and claims they are damaging young players’ development.

Tredwell was left out of Kent’s Division 2 game at Leicestershire, with no role for the spinner on a seamer-friendly green track at Grace Road.

The match was all over in just over two days as Kent completed victory early on Tuesday.
Tredwell, who has featured only twice in four-day cricket this summer, said: “How much I play depends on what the wickets are like.

“We’ve turned up at Leicester and couldn’t tell the wicket from the rest of the ground.
“That’s the way it’s going at away grounds but hopefully if the sunshine stays, then we might come across a few wickets that aid spinners.

“Particularly in the Second Division, every team is looking for results to get out of it and people see the best way of doing that is to leave the wickets green.

“It’s disappointing, not only in regard to the way matches go but also for people learning to play the game and developing in the right manner.

“It’s a shame clubs are going down this route but I’d like to think we won’t do that at Kent, where we try to produce good cricketers from top to bottom.”

Tredwell’s form remains impressive in the NatWest T20 Blast.
He took 2-21 in Kent’s seven-wicket win at Sussex last Friday, prompting skipper SamNortheast to hail him as one of the best white-ball bowlers in the world.

It’s eight years since overseas stars like Lasith Malinga, Ryan McLaren and Yasir Arafat helped Kent win the Twenty20 Cup at Edgbaston.

Kent are entirely homegrown these days but Tredwell, who played in the 2007 team, feels the South Group leaders are good enough to go far in the current 20-over format.

He said: “Our position in the table shows how good we are. We’ve played cricket deserving of being top.

“We know it’s crunch time coming up now and we’ve got to maintain the level of performance we’ve put in to date.

“The way we’re playing, with everyone fired up and putting in a performance, we can beat anyone.

Tredwell took 4-31 as a strong Kent side lost by three wickets in a second eleven three-day friendly at Kings School Canterbury.