Cricket: England players seal IPL deals - but it's at a cost; ENGLAND GEAR UP FOR WINDIES.

Byline: By RICHARD GIBSON

ENGLAND'S leading players will head into a Test summer without first-class practice after a deal was brokered on their central contracts.

The dozen men under England and Wales Cricket Board control have finally signed their 12-month deals, which stipulate a 21-day window of opportunity to play in the Indian Premier League.

That period of time appears to have satisfied all parties with Lalit Modi, the IPL's kingpin, speaking positively yesterday about the possibility of Englishmen joining the second season of the competition after initially turning down a 15-day proposal.

The three-week spell for Test players will begin in April, shortly after the conclusion of the current Caribbean tour.

"Contracts have been signed by the players and we are waiting on the IPL to come back with confirmation," said Paul Collingwood, on the first full day of England's 11-week trip. "From our point of view, the IPL is exciting."

However, the compromise comes at a cost. The ECB have sanctioned half the first-choice team entering the first Test against West Indies at Lord's on May 7 without any County Championship action behind them.

The 21-day agreement means those who are snapped up by IPL franchises will not be available for the round of Championship matches ending on May 1 and 2.

But Collingwood insists that is not a problem, highlighting the precedent set by the resumption of the pre-Christmas India tour in the wake of the terror attacks.

"We have got six days before the Test match from when we get back, so obviously we have got that period of time to practise with the red ball," Collingwood said. "What we will be doing, if we do go over there, is playing against the best players in the world, because everybody is over there.

"That's important because in April, in England, sometimes you don't get any practice, and this way you are guaranteed hitting lots of balls and working on things against the best.

"There are obviously two sides to the argument but recentlywe have shown that practice games aren't 100% essential.

"Going into that Chennai Test match proved it - we didn't have a practice match before it and we put in one of our better performances for some time."

England actually lost the match but there is some merit in what Collingwood says, even if it comes in a week in which the ECB have held a forum intent on protecting Test cricket in the age of 20-over mania.

It also removes a rest period for the main players ahead of a hectic year, which incorporates the Ashes.

There appears to be no meaningful break for the England men from nowuntil the start of the 2010 summer.

The postponed 2008 Champions Trophy and the Stanford Series are currently wedged between the final one-day international against Australia on September 20 and the tour of South Africa starting in early November.

The itinerary for that winter 2009-10 assignment is released today and it is anticipated that the proposed five-Test series will be shortened to four to clip the end off the three-month trip.

England are also committed to a tour of Bangladesh and an ICC 20-over event in the Caribbean between February and April next year.

"I guess you cannot moan about being tired later because if you take an offer up, you know what the ramifications are," conceded Collingwood, who insists he is not one of the English front-runners for an IPL deal despite reported interest.

"But we are pretty much used to the schedules we have got, and we've had busier schedules in the past. If players go over there and earn a few bucks it will make them a lot happier.

"The practice is not like going into Test match cricket. It is not mentally draining.

Obviously they are high-pressure games but only for three hours."

CAPTION(S):

England players Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen chat during a run along Timothy Beach in St Kitts yesterday