HIDDEN away at No 8 in the 19-point list of “step changes in English cricket” in last week’s Schofield Report was a subject that will strike an uneasy chord with the brotherhood of county captains. Under the theme “captaincy and leadership development” comes the recommendation: “The establishment of mentoring and development programmes for players who are in, or have the potential to be in, captaincy and leadership roles within England cricket.”

If the implication was not clear, then David Collier, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), spelt it out. “The thing we all find difficult in county cricket is where the next leader will come from,” he said, voicing an anxiety that is all too apparent at first-class level. Finish one summer as your county’s leader, and, to judge by the chopping and changing that went on over the winter, there is a one in three chance you’ll no longer be in the post come April.

Stalwarts among the current breed of captains are rare. Chris Adams is in his 10th season in charge of Sussex, yet even he almost joined Yorkshire in the close season. Ronnie Irani has been at the helm for Essex since 2000. Among other England-qualified captains, only David Sales of Northamptonshire, in charge since 2004, has hinted at longevity.

This season began with six new faces in charge: Simon Katich at Derbyshire, David Hemp at Glamorgan, Ed Smith at Middlesex, David Hussey at Nottinghamshire, Justin Langer at Somerset and Darren Gough at Yorkshire. Since then, Darren Maddy has taken over at Warwickshire because Heath Streak wanted to concentrate on bowling, and Alex Gidman has stepped in at Gloucestershire while Jon Lewis recovers from an ankle operation.

It makes for worrying repercussions at international level. Six of this season’s county captains are not eligible to play for England: Katich, Langer, Shane Warne and Hussey are Australians, although Hussey has since been replaced by the New Zealander Stephen Fleming; Durham’s Dale Benkenstein is a South African Kolpak; Hemp represented Bermuda at the World Cup. Just as pertinently for Schofield and Collier, only four are younger than 30: Smith and Sales are 29, Kent’s Robert Key is 28, Gidman 25.

“It doesn’t surprise me so many of the captains are non-English-qualified,” says Jeremy Snape, who captains Leicestershire in one-day cricket but leaves the four-day job to Darren Robinson. “Perhaps the English system isn’t providing the cricket we want. It suggests there are cracks in the model, and this could be one of them. We want our players to be tough under pressure, but sadly some of that responsibility falls to overseas players.”

Another English county captain, who preferred to remain anonymous, pointed out that “a more fluid labour market means there are more options”. But the culture of choice is not helping England, where selectors are not overburdened with alternatives when Michael Vaughan is absent. Apart from Andrew Strauss, the rest of the squad have tasted leadership sporadically with their counties (Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff), at under19 or England A level (Alastair Cook and Ian Bell), or, in the case of Kevin Pietersen, during a solitary second XI one-day match in 2002.

The counties can hardly be blamed if players on central contracts are missing out on captaincy at domestic level. But it is not a reason to hold back up-and-coming cricketers with international potential from leading their sides and starting a portfolio on which to build in later years. Collier says the ECB plans to send potential captains on management courses and make more use of “mentors who have experienced cricket at the highest level”. But is there any substitute for learning on the job?

“In Australia, younger players get the chance to captain their state sides when Test players are away,” says Gidman, the youngest captain on the circuit. “Guys like Cameron White and Marcus North, who gets to captain Western Australia when Justin Langer is away. It’s an interesting policy.”

White is 23, but first captained Victoria at the age of 20. North is 27. In county cricket they would almost certainly have been held back. Gidman admits that this might be down to the safety-first mentality in the English game. “I know how beneficial I have found the captaincy,” he says. “I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t. I wouldn’t be scared of making younger players captain and I wouldn’t fear playing under younger ones either.”

The Schofield Report may have opened a bigger floodgate than it imagined.