Mrs CET and I were discussing this topic at lunch, having discovered that Jordan Cox, one of Kent's finest young cricketers is moving across the river to Essex. It makes entire sense for an aspiring-to-be test cricketer. At Kent, he is likely to deployed in a series of rearguard actions, which probably won't help get the attention of the England set-up. Kent can't afford to be competitive across all formats, so for them it makes sense to place a bet on T20 - large home crowds and the possibility of a lucrative finals day. And so if they have future test-cricketers they will probably thing the same, but if you lose your brightest and best, then you slide further down the pecking order.
I think, however, the possibility of a team gelling and doing a Leicester City is much higher in cricket than it is in football, and so I will entertain that faint possibility as we enter a new season. At least they won't have to play a second XI when test cricket or the Hundred are on.