IT IS a sign of the times that as the opening competitive fixtures of the season start this week, the men running English cricket will be thousands of miles away, watching 20-over matches between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders, and Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals. For once, Andrew Flintoff’s latest comeback is not the most important thing on the agenda.

A delegation of David Collier, Giles Clarke and John Perera - chief executive, chairman and commercial director of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) – will be eager to learn all they can from the grand unveiling of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will last six weeks and span 59 matches. So will those county administrators, such as Surrey’s Paul Sheldon, who intend to make reconnaissance missions of their own later to witness the IPL in action.

That the ECB will eventually restyle its own domestic Twenty20 Cup in the hope of attracting greater financial backing is surely beyond doubt; quite what scheme the board comes up with is less certain.

Had the cricket world continued along its normal path, the men in suits might have been able to stay at home to watch Shane Warne, Chris Gayle, Rahul Dravid, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, David Hussey, Zaheer Khan and Glenn McGrath at first-hand. However, many of those players who used to descend on these shores to play county cricket have gone off and found wealthier sugar daddies on the sub-continent.

All the indications are that the IPL will be a huge commercial success. Most grounds should be well attended most of the time, as ticket prices have been set at about half what they are for a typical one-day international (remember those?). Sales of the 12,700 slots available for advertisements during Sony TV’s Indian coverage of the 59 matches are apparently going well. A dispute with news agencies over how the event is covered has caused problems but is expected to be resolved.

In some ways the English authorities might be relieved if the IPL was less than a total triumph, otherwise they could face grave difficulties keeping their leading players happy. Could the ECB really prevent them signing up for at least some of the IPL season next year? Could it stop Flintoff, if his latest comeback is not an unalloyed success, jacking in plans to return to Test cricket and instead taking India’s pots of gold?

Until its Twenty20 plans are finalised, the ECB is doing what it can to line the pockets of its players. Hence Friday’s announcement of an additional series of five 50-over internationals against Australia on home soil in 2010 (anybody playing in the series might receive £12,000 in appearance fees alone). It may, or may not, prove to be enough.

Some people might accuse Collier and Clarke of dragging their heels to Mammon’s altar, but Sheldon, among other county officials, is hungrily eyeing the potential of an IPL-style tournament in England to bring fresh riches into the game.

“What we need to do is start with a blank piece of paper [in reviewing the domestic schedule],” he said. “We are on the edge of a fantastic opportunity to exploit Twenty20. Everything must be done within the auspices of the ECB, but we should look at all options, including using franchised city teams for Twenty20. Broadcast deals and franchises are how India raised their money. We must at least explore doing the same.”

Others are more cautious. Steve Elworthy, who is planning the Twenty20 world championship to be held in England next year, ran the commercial arm of South African cricket when it switched to a franchise-based system four years ago, when 11 provincial teams merged to make six franchises. Elworthy stresses that the driving force behind the change was a genuine desire to raise playing standards rather than more revenue and he says the financial benefits to the franchises were relatively modest.

There are also logistical problems to England copying India’s introduction of a city-based tournament. A switch from 18 county clubs to eight city teams has been mooted, but rebranding Lancashire as Manchester might alienate as many of the county’s existing supporters who come from outside Manchester as it would attract new fans from the city.

Equally, there are big cities in England, such as Liverpool, Newcastle and Hull, without close ties to a county club. Merging two county clubs – say, Sussex with Hampshire, or Somerset with Gloucestershire – into one city team would also create territorial battles.

Where the IPL might fall short is in delivering an all-star cast for all six weeks of the event. The leading South Africans have said they will arrive a week late so that they can fulfil domestic commitments; no current Australia or New Zealand Test players will be available from the third week onwards; and the West Indians will probably miss the final fortnight.

Whether, therefore, Sony thinks that it is getting value for money remains to be seen.

All IPL matches can be watched in the UK on Setanta Sports. For details, go to www.setanta.com or call 08712 102030