Lack of Twenty20 prize-money might enrich England

England have not had to waste too much time this winter checking prize-money on offer, and nobody seemed sure yesterday how much is at stake in the Twenty20 international against West Indies tomorrow. Suffice to say that, to the nearest million, it will be $20 million (about £14.3 million) less than the pot for their previous meeting in the shortest format.
The Stanford Superstars of the infamous game last November take on the national mantle this time and, with England seeking a first victory of an eventful few months, that miserable week in Antigua is easily identified as the place where things began to go wrong. They have since failed to win in seven Test matches against India and West Indies, and lost 5-0 in the one-day series in India.
Kevin Pietersen's view that India have raised the batting side of their game to a higher level as a result of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cannot be proved either way. Those who consider his opinion to be self-serving, that England players must follow the same road, will note that Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh were established and effective long before the event.
In any case, the immediate future of the IPL is under renewed doubt after the Indian government rejected a revised fixture list because of clashes with the forthcoming general election. Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has also made what may prove to be a huge error of judgment in rejecting any input from the player associations over security. Dimitri Mascarenhas, the single England player to have participated so far, is awaiting guidance from Rajasthan Royals, his franchise and the defending champions, as well as the ECB before deciding whether to recommit. Having spent two months playing limited-overs matches for Otago in New Zealand he is becoming a one-day specialist in more than just description.
Mascarenhas provides a litmus test for attitudes towards a form of the game still considered inferior in England. Pietersen may be right, but there is no guarantee that performances in the IPL would mean much in the eyes of the selectors. Mascarenhas believes that the IPL can be a source of general improvement, but with a caveat. “In the first stage they play 14 games, which means you get experience in a lot of situations,” he said. “But they do play on a lot of flat pitches.”
He seems certain to play tomorrow and in the 50-over warm-up against the West Indies Players Association in Pointe-a-Pierre today, but Paul Collingwood is a doubt for both matches with a bacterial infection. Whether Mascarenhas retains his place for the first one-day international in Guyana on Friday may depend on the fitness of Andrew Flintoff, who is expected to be rested this weekend.
Source:the times