County strength benefits England

Shah continued an impressive run of England batsmen on debut

The deputy chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board has cited the success of England's batsmen on debut as proof the county game is working.

The last five specialist batsman to debut for England have scored at least a half century in their first Test.

Owais Shah was the latest to continue the trend with his 88 against India.

And Mike Soper said: "Suddenly players coming through the system are performing very quickly, so you have to say that we are doing something right."

Shah joined Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook in scoring a 50 on debut.

Their success follows a re-formatting of the country game in 2001, when the County Championship was split into two divisions, with relegation and promotion each season.

LAST FIVE BATSMEN ON DEBUT O Shah 88 v India, Mumbai, 2006 A Cook 60 & 104* v India, Nagpur, 2006 K Pietersen 57 & 64* v Australia, Lord's, 2005 I Bell 70 v West Indies, Oval, 2004 A Strauss 112 & 83 v New Zealand, Lord's, 2004

However, ECB chairman David Morgan has recently hinted he would like to see the championship revert back to a one division, three-day format, rather than stick with the current four-day game.

Soper told the BBC's Test Match Special: "I think there is a strong argument for keeping things as they are and a strong argument for change at the same time.

"But when players like Alastair Cook are coming through and performing, it is clear we're getting it right.

"Go back five or six years, England were bringing players in at the top level and they just weren't performing."