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Restoring unity to a team framework torn apart in the New Year by that row between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores was supposed to have been top of the agenda for this tour of the West Indies. Instead, the spectre of the Indian Premier League is threatening to cause divisions not merely within the England dressing room but also between the players and their counties.
Led by Hampshire, the 18 first-class counties held out for a 10 per cent levy on whatever England's cricketers pick up from their appearances in the IPL, making that arrangement a condition of their release from their contracts.
The players feel this amounted to little more than blackmail and are equally upset that the money - which could amount to as much as £45,000 in Kevin Pietersen's case - will be paid to the counties with no accountability as to how it is spent.
Bearing in mind that the players have been granted a three-week window, Pietersen is set to miss little more than one four-day match for Hampshire, making the level of his compensation steep indeed, especially when compared to Andrew Symonds.
The Australian was the IPL's highest-paid player last year but he compensated Queensland to the tune of just £6,000. Such is the strength of feeling that some players might threaten to walk away from their counties.
To prevent that, all the counties would have to stand firm on what for them is an unexpected bonus. But it is difficult not to feel some sympathy for the players, who have little contact with their counties these days because of the amount of international cricket they play and who appear to have been put over a barrel by a club they are now barely associated with.
It is fair to say I have never known relations between England's players and the England and Wales Cricket Board to be so strained. With this resentment in the background, we brace ourselves for the IPL auction itself - a distasteful and chaotic procedure which, last year, left Aussie Adam Gilchrist describing himself as feeling like a cow at the market.
We now know that on the third day of this week's First Test against the West Indies, Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood will be similarly distracted when they should be concentrating solely on events at Sabina Park.
This is the fault of the Indian Board, who again displayed their lack of interest in anything other than their own affairs by scheduling the auction in the middle of a Test. The players themselves say that they are taking the whole thing lightly but how can that really be the case when we are talking about life-changing sums of money?
It is against this backdrop that Andrew Strauss (left) and the acting coach, Andy Flower, must attempt to set England on the path to regaining the Ashes next summer. It is just as well that both are such calm characters after the upheaval of the past few weeks.
One has to say that the team looked focused during their warm-up games in St Kitts last week and the players seemed to be getting along well together. Nothing stretches patience more than a couple of fruitless hot days in the field but the manner in which Strauss's team responded against West Indies A was an encouraging sign.
Not many questions about team selection were answered, though. Ian Bell again threw his wicket away having made a pretty 50 and although Owais Shah hit a century against St Kitts attack, he failed in the innings that mattered. Andrew Flintoff's return to fitness from a side strain appears to condemn Shah to the sidelines.
Steve Harmison benefited the most from the long stay in the field, looking better and better with every spell. England are desperate to play him here in Jamaica, on a bouncier Sabina Park track, and are giving him every chance to recapture his Test place and line-up beside Flintoff, Stuart Broad and either James Anderson or Ryan Sidebottom.
That leaves the final, and most ticklish dilemma for Strauss and Flower to tackle: Graeme Swann or Monty Panesar? Because of the number of left-handers in the West Indies team, my head says off-spinner Swann, but I doubt Monty will be ditched just yet.
Reader views (2)
So far I can see where the Ipl is getting into the way of the players from the various countries. It is also clear the the Ipl people are only concern about themselves.
Put that a side, the current series between Wi and England from a west indian perspective is going well. For any one to say we have turn the corner would be a big mistake. However, clearly a glimmer of hope is on the horizon, we can see a team standing up to be counted. In a couple of months beating England at home will be more than welcome and that will take us closer to the corner that we need to turn.
If it is correct, the view that Tiger plays only for himself supposedly said by Kevin P, then he needs to explain in the same column how does one plays as a team player. He needs to wake up and describe his playing tell us if he is selfish or if he plays for himself.
- Basil Longman, Montego Bay, Jamaica, 29/03/2009 04:56
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With players from all countries involved, whichever date is chosen it will clash with matches being played by some team or other, unless of course Agnew wants England to be treated specially! Also the auction is in reality a big thing, requiring considerable organisation. It is arguably the fairest way of assessing the commercial value of a player, so if unfortunately a player is valued lower than he thought he was worth, it will hurt him.
- Nat, New Malden, UK, 03/02/2009 11:09
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