FORMER England and Kent pace bowler Martin McCague has spoken out against the county's decision to axe several of their players in an end-of-season cull.

Last week the county sacked McCague, England tourist and double championship-winning keeper Paul Nixon and 22-year-old batsman Matthew Banes.

They have since made further cuts by allowing all-rounder James Golding and batsman James Hockley to hold talks with other clubs.

Neither Golding, 25, from Canterbury, nor 23-year-old Hockley, from Beckenham, have been offered new contracts, though one or both of them may yet be re-engaged for 2003 should Kent fail to strengthen their squad in the close season.

The decisions have angered Australian-raised McCague, who believes young English-qualified players are being sacrificed to help pay for Kent's second overseas player for the 2003 campaign.

He stressed: "I think these are the first steps in a big stride backwards for English Test cricket. The players didn’t vote for the change to two overseas stars next year. In fact they voted overwhelmingly to keep it to one and asked for restrictions on European passport holders coming into championship cricket.

"But the counties voted for two and it’s now the players who are paying for it with their jobs."

McCague also believes Hockley and Golding have been released prematurely and before they were given the opportunity to prove their full value to the club.

"I really don’t know how they (Kent) came to these decisions because as far as I see it Golding or Hockley have never been given an extended opportunity to show what they are capable of.

"Had Hockley been given a prolonged run in the first team, like they have given to the likes of Matthew Walker, then I’m sure he would have proved himself. It seems there has been one rule for one, one rule for another.

"As for Golding, he was our leading wicket-taker in the NUL until the last match with 18 wickets. How often does a club sack their leading wicket-taker?"

Both Hockley and Golding have struggled to make the step up into first-class cricket and had seemingly been pigeon-holed as limited overs’ players in the past two seasons.

Golding was plucked from Kent League obscurity in 1999 to be given a first-class debut against New Zealand by former coach John Wright, but made only a further 10 first-class appearances taking 14 wickets and making a top score of 30 against Glamorgan.

Hockley, meanwhile, rose through the Kent ranks having equalled Trevor Ward’s record for reaching 1,000 runs in a season for the county under-15s and went on to play another 17 first-class matches after his 1998 debut against Oxford University.

Though stylish and talented, Hockley scored his modest career-best of 74 against Zimbabwe two seasons ago, though his one-day contributions have been more eye catching.

His match-winning 90 at Edgbaston last September helped secure the Norwich Union League title, and he went on to take 121 off the same opponents in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy third-round win in June.