COUNTIES other than Yorkshire will be agreeably surprised by the amount of cricket their England contracted players will be playing for them when the 2005 season starts three weeks on Friday. In announcing yesterday the county matches for which the 12 players who are at present formally under his wing will be available, Duncan Fletcher, England’s manager and coach, made a notable exception of his captain, Michael Vaughan.

He will be less inclined to release his men, no doubt, once the first of the summer’s seven npower Test matches, against Bangladesh, has started on May 26 at Lord’s. Until then, however, only Vaughan is to take an extended rest after the winter’s work in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Vaughan looked a tired man, both mentally and physically, when the trip to South Africa ended in February. He will be made available only for Yorkshire’s Frizzell County Championship matches beginning on May 6 and May 11 and for the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy match on May 17.

It would be true to say that Fletcher has learnt on the job since central contracts were introduced for the first time five years ago. He has always insisted that the point of the system is to keep players fresh for the more or less ceaseless grind of international cricket. What has sometimes been seen as bloody-mindedness — Jack Simmons, the Lancashire chairman, is a notable advocate of England men playing more than they do — is no more than a determination to stick to that policy. The gap since the return of the one-day team on February 14 and the start of the season on April 8 has enabled him to display his good faith to the counties.

Lancashire will be relieved that James Anderson, who will not play for England again until he finds the accuracy and confidence of his fortuitous rise to prominence, will be available for all their matches from the start of the season.

Fletcher’s decisions are aimed mainly at the main event, the series for the Ashes starting on July 21, and he has had a delicate balancing act to perform in the hope of getting his key men — Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Graham Thorpe, Ashley Giles and Stephen Harmison in particular — to Lord’s in prime condition on that momentous day.

Harmison has been made available for Durham’s county championship matches from the start of the season, plus the first and second rounds of the C & G Trophy. This may or may not be a sign that his one-day international cricket is likely to be limited between the Test series against Bangladesh and Australia. His Test opening partner, Matthew Hoggard, is another whose one-day future is in question but he will be released for all Yorkshire’s matches from April 13.

By contrast, Giles and Strauss, both guaranteed a place in the one-day team, have a carefully controlled start. Giles will be available for Warwickshire only in county championship matches from April 13 and the second round of the C & G Trophy on May 17; Strauss will play for Middlesex only in county championship matches from April 20, plus the C & G Trophy match on May 17.

Decisions on Mark Butcher and Flintoff will be made once they have recovered fully from their operations. Flintoff has made good progress since the surgery to his ankle at the end of January but will not play in the Tests against Bangladesh.

CENTRAL PLAYLIST

Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire): Frizzell County Championship matches on May 6 and May 11, C & G Trophy tie on May 17

James Anderson (Lancashire): all cricket

Ashley Giles (Warwickshire): championship, C & G Trophy on May 17

Stephen Harmison (Durham): championship, C & G Trophy

Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire): all cricket

Geraint Jones (Kent): all cricket from April 17

Simon Jones (Glamorgan): all cricket

Andrew Strauss (Middlesex): championship, C & G Trophy on May 17

Marcus Trescothick (Somerset): championship, C & G Trophy

Graham Thorpe (Surrey): championship, C & G Trophy on May 17

Mark Butcher (Surrey) and Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) available when injuries allow