They have realised the crucial importance of fitness levels especially in the one-day game and what they can

They have realised the crucial importance of fitness levels, especially in the one-day game and what they can mean when games get tight. For the sides who have fallen behind that will be a very difficult gap to make up in little more than a year.”Paradoxically, Woolmer is certain he can help the teams who came through the ICC qualifying tournament.He has visited all four and outlined a strategy. “Organisation can go a long way as the full member countries have probably found out, especially those who are losing, but the enthusiasm I have found among the amateurs is boundless.”In playing terms, compared to the least competent professional international sides, Woolmer gives Kenya seven marks out of 10, Holland 5.5 and Canada and Namibia four each. He aims to be able to help to increase those by at least two points in each case in the next 15 months.”This is a fantastic opportunity for the game,” he said.

“We know that for it to spread properly we have to have sufficient teams competing ferociously and it’s a crusade that can be won, if not overnight, then in time. It is the lack of bowling which will be the hardest aspect to overcome. None of the qualifiers have any pace at all and while medium pacers have their place they can be slaughtered by the type of batsmen they are likely to face in the World Cup. But the ICC are ready to put their money where their mouth is on this.”The trouble for the ICC is that Australia and South Africa – with Pakistan and India hanging on to their coat tails – have burst away from the pack in the limited-overs game with greater alacrity than they have in Test cricket.They might have the better players but the chief difference is their willingness to innovate. As Zimbabwe have demonstrated, the chasm will still be yawning 15 months hence.. Some day, one day, any day England are likely to compromise to save their home Test series next summer. Although schedules were drawn up between the countries long ago the new cricket administration in India, with Jagmohan Dalmiya as chairman, have insisted on change.Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, expects to negotiate a settlement this week.

Although there was no official comment yesterday, flexibility will now be seen as a strength. The alternative is to bring in the International Cricket Council as arbiter and set world cricket on another collision course with Dalmiya.He has made two demands of England. Apart from a sixth one-dayer next month he also wants five Tests between the sides, rather than three, when England next tour India in early 2006. Otherwise, he has threatened that India will play three Tests instead of four in England in the 2002 summer.Cancellation would be catastrophic since thousands of tickets for the game at The Oval have been sold and it is part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s substantial TV deal. Although it is understood that the ECB have made contingency plans (a fourth Test against the summer’s first tourists, Sri Lanka, a one-off Test against West Indies and a match against a Rest of the World side have all been mentioned) none is certain to be possible or profitable.So far, England have been intransigent. However, it will probably be simpler all round if they meet him part of the way: play the extra one-dayer but resist five Tests on the next tour.