SOMERSET all-rounder Peter Trego has taken to social media to respond to Matt Prior's claim that there are too many county players "floating around" who are "not ambitious enough."
The former England wicketkeeper, who played his last Test in 2014, made the comments in a BBC Radio 5Live programme on England's struggles overseas in recent years.
Prior said: "There’s a lot of cricketers playing county cricket who are not ambitious enough to think, ‘I want to play cricket for England. I want to play and win a series in Australia'.
"I think there are too many players at the moment floating around in county cricket having a nice life with very little ambition to push on.
"There is a huge responsibility on the counties to create that level of ambition from English cricketers - this isn't just about winning the County Championship or a domestic T20 competition."
Several past and present county cricketers responded via Twitter to the 35-year-old's controversial comments, with Trego among the first to offer his take.
very few would keep a career at pro level being “un-motivated” as Matt is insinuating, it ain’t that’s easy.... and don’t forget, the players don’t choose to play for England they are selected by a group of on lookers who’s opinions of every player will differ...
— Peter Trego (@tregs140) January 12, 2018
Trego went on to say: "Domestic cricket is, in its own right a great product and form of entertainment for the cricket watching public, offen more entertaining than watching England.
"Not sure I’m happy with someone who was good enough disrespecting 200+ pros that are either my mates or guys I know work hard and I respect!!"
Later responding to Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale, who also took issue with Prior's remarks, Trego added: "Good insight into the potential clique issues KP [Kevin Pietersen] talked about, even post career the “boys” won’t upset each other, to the point where they are pinning England’s failings on the folk who don’t even get the chance to play for their country...Laughable!!"
The aforementioned remarks refer to Kevin Pietersen's notorious autobiography, in which he accused Prior of being part of a 'clique' which made life intimidating for certain players in the England squad, and also alleged that the wicketkeeper referred to himself as 'The Big Cheese' - both claims denied by Prior.
Perhaps the most high-profile reaction came from Andrew Flintoff, who tweeted the following:
Why shouldn’t county cricketers have a nice life ? I think this is highly disrespectful, I remember county Cricket being extremely tough and competitive and I can’t think of anyone mastering it , seems some people have short memories and please name the players “floating around” https://t.co/ko9TRZudqp
— andrew flintoff (@flintoff11) January 12, 2018
Former Somerset one-day captain Jim Allenby also weighed in, writing: "'Floating around' in county cricket is not actually a real thing."
This morning [Saturday], Prior responded to Trego (see exchange below) and continues to defend his comments on Twitter as the debate over whether some domestic players are too comfortable rages on.
As I said interview gone wrong, hopefully... surely you can’t expect not to make domestic players grumpy with your thoughts? Respect is mutual pal, I’m just surprised at your interview
— Peter Trego (@tregs140) January 13, 2018
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