We're all in it together

In 1997 Kent lost the Championship to Glamorgan by a nose but this summer's run-in remains the most exciting I have known. While 1997 was a two-horse race, this is more like the Grand National, with everybody except Glamorgan and Gloucestershire continually beating one another. It's the closest-fought summer I've been involved in.

But there is a danger it could pass people by. Three or more teams might still have a chance of winning the title going in to the final round, yet Kevin Pietersen's latest hairdo and Glenn McGrath's boots get more media coverage. If this was the Premiership with such a close finish, newspapers would provide whole supplements dedicated to the star players, the managers and the different permutations.

However, there is absolutely no sense of resentment among the counties. County cricketers aspire to play for their country; perhaps it's too late for me but we want the young guys to become internationals. And the Ashes was a great series, it's quite understandable and correct that it has dominated the summer.

Rob Key, who narrowly missed out on this summer's international action, has a unique perspective as someone who has been involved within the current England set-up yet has experienced the feel-good factor filtering down to the lower levels of the game.

"It makes you feel proud, feel better about being an English cricketer," he says. "Kids are playing more cricket in the park and the foreigners, who used to come over here and compare county cricket to third-grade club games in their countries are now recognising our cricket is up there with the best in the world."

Our fortunes in the shires are intertwined with the national team. While football can draw upon the fanatical support at club level regardless of whether Sven's men are limping their way towards World Cup qualification, interest in our summer game revolves around the fortunes of the national side, so the counties have to pitch hard for business right now while cricket is sexy. Maybe, just maybe, the spotlight post-Ashes will fall on the Championship and the public's interest will follow. But the responsibility lies on our own shoulders. Cricket has to convince its new converts that a day at a county match can be almost as enthralling as watching the Ashes on TV.

Twenty20 was a shot in the arm for sure; we're entertainers and we want to play in front of full houses. It filled the stands but what is best about this summer is that people are getting excited about four- and five-day matches, not just the hustly bustly stuff. The Ashes has given the longer format of the game a whole new image from which we can all benefit.

The onus is on all of us who play county cricket to keep entertaining. The best two sides in the world have set their stall out to score runs at over four per over. They bowl aggressively, field aggressively and try to seize the initiative at all times. It's been attack and counterattack all summer and the counties must follow suit.

It would be criminal if cricket's recently initiated were turned off by players grinding out a draw when more imagination or purpose could have produced a dramatic finish. For this to happen everyone involved in the county set-up is crucial, from those who produce the pitches and practice facilities to the people at the ECB who decide on the number of points for winning and drawing.

At least in part, the current points system is there to encourage good wickets. You want to get your batting points so you don't prepare outrageous green pitches. But cricket should be about winning and losing and we must do our utmost to achieve results. Sometimes three-up, three-down and the current points arrangements do produce a safety-first, conservative approach. In our game against Middlesex in early September they played some pretty conservative cricket, trying to squeeze as many points as they safely could from the game (although against those going for the Championship it can be very attacking).

So I don't see a clash between counties and country. Our fortunes are directly linked. Unlike England's World Cup-winning rugby team, which fell apart immediately after its Sydney triumph, the core of this England cricket side will stay together for the next five or six years. This should give us time to produce the next generation of Flintoffs, Harmisons and Vaughans to sustain England's success, while creating an environment in which the counties can flourish.

David Fulton stepped down as captain of Kent at the end of the 2005 season