Nasser Hussain wonders if the IPL auctions will derail England's imminent tour of the West Indies.
Test cricket must remain pinnacle of the game, says Nass
If the Test series is the main event of England's tour of the West Indies, next month's IPL auctions in India is definitely the sideshow.
My gut feeling is that the tourists, who fly out on Wednesday, should be good enough to beat the Windies across the four Tests even though there will be things going on behind the scenes.
Just days after the first match begins in Jamaica all eyes will bend towards the IPL at it holds its second round of auctions and the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will no doubt be listening in to see what they are worth if, as anticipated, they are in the reckoning.
The bidding won't cast a shadow over the tour but it will grab the attention of the players and media at a time when there is tension between Test cricket and the IPL.
The bottom line for new skipper Andrew Strauss and the team is can they win in the Caribbean? If they do, then any distraction should be minimal.
Big money
But if they start losing and the Pietersens, the Flintoffs and others have secured big-money deals then there may be issues in the camp. Then I would be worried. It's something Strauss will have to keep an eye on but it goes with the territory of being England captain.
I fully believe that players should be able to fulfil their maximum earning potential during their time in the game so long as they don't insist on having things both ways. They can't demand less cricket and also want an increase in pay.
Too much county and international cricket is already being played: I said that when I sat on the Schofield review group but it hasn't been cut down. The scheduling for this year and the next is ridiculous, so I have some sympathy with the players but a balance must be struck.
On Monday I, together with Michael Vaughan, Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart, attended an ECB summit in Leicestershire at which the main discussion point was the future of Test cricket and how to enhance it.
Quality
We have to recognise that there is a threat from Twenty20 cricket in terms of losing crowds, revenue and players. But I think Test cricket will come through it because of the value and the heritage of the game, so long as the schedule is based on quality not quantity.
I've never looked fondly on one-off Tests against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh - you don't really hype yourself up for them. I didn't perform well against those sides; I looked forward to playing against Australia and South Africa, that's what it was all about for me.
My feeling is that you should always leave the public wanting more. South Africa have just played three Tests in Australia and now they are hosting Ricky Ponting's side; one series has whetted the appetite for the other.
The problem, of course, is how do you marry embracing Zimbabwe and Bangladesh with improving the overall quality of Test cricket? With great difficulty, is the answer.
Improvement
I see more potential in Bangladesh because of the size of their population and the interest in the game; I see more players coming through who could make the grade but with a busy programme, you have got to keep their involvement down to a bare minimum.
They are not the only ones who need to improve. A few England players have plateaued over the last year and they need to kick on before the Ashes.
What I'll be looking for in the Caribbean more than anything is for Ian Bell and Alastair Cook to get hundreds, Matt Prior to get big runs and Monty Panesar to start setting his own fields and understand his own bowling.
In all honesty, I don't care who bats at No 3 - Bell, Owais Shah Joe Bloggs - I want someone to come in and show we have excellent Test players, not just good ones.
