On the same day that England's County Championship has secured a new sponsor for the next four years, the world's oldest domestic cricket competition has again come in for criticism.

Not only has it failed to attract spectators, says Graeme Wright, editor of cricket bible Wisden, but it is also failing in its primary duty, to provide quality players for the England side.

But the company, who will use its brand Frizzell for title sponsorship, is the third backer of the first-class competition in as many years.

The amounts involved are less than the four-year agreement signed by football's conference - the top non-league sides - last year.

It took until the eve of last season before a short-term deal was hammered out with internet company CricInfo, reinforcing an image of the county game as unattractive to sponsors.

New Zealander Wright used his annual notes in the Wisden almanack to call for a reduction in the number of counties, and has even suggested a move to city teams.

"What we have at the moment is a Victorian institution that resisted reform in the 20th century and struggled into the 21st on subsidies rather than public support," he says.

"The system survives on a confederacy of mediocrity."

More changes

County bosses who make up the First Class Forum will make a decision next week on a restructuring of the English game.

But the main proposal for that meeting is the introduction of a 20-over league, to be played in mid-summer, probably replacing what is currently the Benson & Hedges Cup.

Although such a proposal may halt a decline that has seen a 17% drop in attendances in all competitions in the last five years, it appears unlikely to increase interest in the four-day game.

And Wright holds little confidence in these measures, just as he is unimpressed with small structural changes that have gone before.

"Changes have been introduced in an attempt to improve standards: among them, four-day matches, two divisions, pitch penalties and smaller-seamed balls," he says.

"But they have not brought spectators to first-class cricket and they have not provided the core of players able to step up to international level."

Unattractive

Far from seeing county cricket as an attractive vehicle for forwarding a brand, one sports sponsorship insider believes the domestic game's greatest appeal is as a cheap way to entertain clients.

"A lot of financial services companies seem to find cricket useful as a way of getting to customers, taking them to a match and having time to talk," says Martin Cannon, spokesman for the Institute of Sports Sponsorship.

"County cricket is a concern to us all," he admits. "It doesn't draw the crowds but we have to play it because it brings players through for the England team."

"We've heard the city cricket argument before, and we've heard the arguments for reducing the numbers of counties.

"But it's hard to do because the counties will argue they bring cricketers through for the Test side."

Amiss argues that the game at international level goes in phases, and that it is the strength of the current Australian side that makes critics think England are weak.

"We are producing good cricketers and, with the things we are doing now, like central contracts, we are building an England side that will be competitive in the future."

But, as things stand at the moment, few of the fans and sponsors who enjoy the success of the England team will also be in attendance at matches in the Frizzell County Championship.