Does the English public know its cricket?

CAN YOU NAME THESE PLAYERS? England focus for strategic plan

As part of English cricket's new strategic plan, the England and Wales Cricket Board hopes to develop three heroes - 'superstars' known by 10% of population by 2009.

BBC Sport took to the streets of London to test the public's knowledge of the England cricket team.

We asked 25 people four different questions, and received some interesting responses.

1. CAN YOU NAME THREE CURRENT ENGLAND CRICKETERS?

Revealingly, 16 people could not name a single England cricketer.

SIX people successfully completed the task, while TWO correctly identified two players and ONE person named one player.

Anna, 19, named three but included now-retired former captain Nasser Hussain, while Brian, 26, named none but asked if Ian Botham was still playing.

Andrew Flintoff was the most identified player - figuring in each of the nine attempted responses - followed by Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen.

2. DO YOU RECOGNISE THE PLAYERS PICTURED ABOVE?

FOUR people correctly named each of Vaughan, Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard when shown photographs of them.

TWO people could identify two of the players, with TWO naming just the one - Flintoff.

Of the participants who did not recognise the players, responses varied from 37-year-old Jackie's "I like every sport except cricket" to 44-year-old Seamus's "I have never watched a game of cricket in my life".

3. WHICH TEAMS ARE ENGLAND PLAYING THIS SUMMER?

EIGHT people were aware that England are facing Australia, including FOUR who knew that Bangladesh are featuring as well.

Sylvester, 52, said he was looking forward to the Ashes "more than any other sporting event this year".

Some guessed that Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa are touring England this year, while one respondent, 21-year-old Elise, could not name a single cricket-playing country.

4. CAN YOU NAME THREE ENGLISH CRICKET VENUES?

SEVEN participants correctly identified three Test venues, with Lord's and The Oval named each time.

THREE people nominated two grounds, with TWO able to name just the one - Lord's.

Garry, 31, reeled off every major ground in the country and offered to name each county ground.

However, 20-year-old Billy said he had never been to a game of cricket and "never would".

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CONCLUSION: The ECB has a lot of work to do to raise the profile of cricket in England.