L ancashire are not the most popular county at the moment. From next week the live-streamed coverage of their matches at Old Trafford will go behind a paywall – free to members, £20 a season if not. And so the thrill of Jimmy Anderson bowling from the end that bears his name will play out to a smaller audience.

Although beyond this, or the broader sadness at Old Trafford becoming a dystopian hotel-cum-events space where the first team feels secondary, there seems to be widespread agreement that the Red Rose have been hard done by of late: namely, in the ongoing trial of injury replacements in English cricket.

To recap, this year sees teams in the County Championship able to replace a player if they are afflicted by injury, illness or a significant life event – a broadening of existing allowances for concussion or England call-ups.…