WindieWeathers
International Regular
It's interesting you speak about who would benefit and who wouldn't because a kid like Kraigg is 22 and has scored four tons in four series and averages 36 but will he be afforded the same chance? I have my doubts. And this is where NZ are benefiting because several of the NZ test players have either played county cricket or second eleven matches for a county side.Look the main benefit that Kane got from his 2014 county cricket stint was an opportunity to play a lot of long form cricket in testing conditions. NZ doesn't play nearly as much test cricket as India and Australia, and so their players are at an immediate disadvantage during their developmental phase. Going and playing competitive first class cricket non-stop for 6 months is exactly what a talented young player like Kane needed. Somebody like Smith would probably benefit from it substantially less, because he plays a massive amount of high quality long form cricket already. Kohli would probably improve as a batsman in English conditions, but in terms of his overall record as a player I doubt it would have a huge impact.
Someone like Bravo would absolutely benefit immensely from a season of county cricket, and if he did then maybe he could hope to achieve the kind of sustained excellence that Williamson has. Given how obviously naturally talented he is, I'm sure any county would welcome him, so there's really nobody stopping him but himself.