Former England captain Nasser Hussain has criticised the current structure of county cricket, labelling it "abysmal" and "ridiculous".
This year's season saw the County Championship once again marginalised in favour of white ball cricket, with the competition bookending the season and not getting played during the height of England's Test summer.
The One Day Cup was also relegated to a "development competition" and played concurrently with The Hundred.
The T20 Blast was played in blocks, with a five-week gap between the end of the group stages and the quarter-finals and a four-week gap leading into Finals Day.
As a result, counties struggled to retain overseas players for the entirety of competitions, and players struggled to find consistent form.
England also suffered as there was a lack of in-form players to choose from for their Test series against New Zealand and India because of the structure.
And Hussain believes it needs to change next year, telling Sky Sports: "It's abysmal. I'm sorry, it's just ridiculous.
"The amount of batters we've spoken to that have said 'I was just getting into red ball cricket and then all of a sudden my game just went'.
"It's not just the ones we see, there's ones underneath those as well, the second team players, that are just getting into red ball cricket and suddenly it's a whole month of white ball cricket and they lose their rhythm, they don't see first-class cricket.
"Then you're picking a Test side from county players who haven't played much red ball cricket, so something needs to be done.
Do you agree with Hussain's verdict on the county cricket calendar? Let us know in the comments section.
"International cricket is a joke, they're just filling in every window with cricket and in domestic cricket, they're filling in every window with more fixtures."
Hussain went on to praise the way Warwickshire and Lancashire contested the Bob Willis Trophy, adding: "I am amazed at the professionalism of these 22 lads here today.
"I didn't see anyone's head drop, even at the end there, so my hat goes off to every county cricketer this season. They've put in a real shift and they've earnt their winter [break]."
