The agenda also includes a proposal by the England coach David Lloyd for a pool of national coaches, a specialist programme to identify and fast-track young English wrist spinners and the possibility of sophisticated video coaching equipment for all 18 first-class counties.

England players will move one step nearer in 1998 to what Lord MacLaurin has called the long-term ``inevitability'' of central employment by the ECB, but the drastic step of cutting off a squad of 20 or more players from day-to-day involvement with their county clubs will be avoided, despite Lloyd's disquiet on more than one occasion last season when a player arrived for an England practice unfit.

The coach would prefer direct employment by the board to ensure England players get the right amount of rest, a balanced programme of net and match practice, and close supervision of diet, fitness and mental preparation.

There is no doubt that this gives Australia and South Africa, in particular, an advantage compared to the English system where players have to split their loyalties between the national team and the county clubs, who have nurtured them and still pay their salaries.

Rather than invite another confrontation with recalcitrant county chairmen, however, the board may feel that it would be wiser to identify certain periods of the season when the England committee should be controlling their top players. Next year the national side faces what Tim Lamb, chief executive of the board, has described as a ``unique'' programme of almost non-stop international cricket.

If the proposed inaugural world tournament gets off the ground at Disneyland in Florida next September or October, he will not be exaggerating.

The ICC will receive a progress report on that idea when they meet in Pakistan next week. Already England are due to play five one-day internationals in the West Indies from January to April. They then go straight into the home season, playing three one-day internationals and five Tests against South Africa, a triangular one-day tournament with South Africa and Sri Lanka, and a Test against Sri Lanka.

That will be followed by the climax of the county season in September, and there is only the briefest of rests before those who have lasted the course have to depart for Australia in October for the toughest tour of the lot (possibly via Florida). By the time the third match has been played in the first few days of 1999 England will have played 14 Tests in 11 months and could easily have gone most of the way towards a sixth successive defeat in an Ashes series.

Clearly there is a duty for the board to keep a balance between rest and play. No county chairman is likely to disagree and, given fair compensation, there should be a broad acceptance of the probability that regular England players will play only a limited amount of county cricket next year or in future.

BOARD officials feel that an extension of the present voluntary agreement - by which counties have rested players at the request of the chairman of selectors - is preferable for many reasons to central employment of a squad, which would need to be changed according to the different demands of Tests and internationals and which would have logistic problems if some players lose form and fitness and others demand to be added. But the board accept that substantial financial compensation will have to be offered to counties if they are to acquiesce.

Surrey, for one, might feel that they would be giving up an excellent chance of winning major county prizes by agreeing to do without Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Mark Butcher, the Hollioake brothers and Alistair Brown - all picked for England teams this winter. It is more likely that they will be asked to release certain players at different times.

The ECB's management committee are giving urgent attention to various other ideas passed on by Bob Bennett's England committee, who met last week to draw conclusions from this year's Ashes series. Lloyd's report is understood to have been critical of counties where too little technical advice and, worse, poor practice facilities, are available to players. At three Test grounds - Trent Bridge, Headingley and the Oval there are no outdoor nets available during Tests except on the outfield.

Lloyd also feels that 'star' players are too inclined to manage their clubs rather than the other way round. One England fast bowler rang his county last season to say that he would not be coming in for treatment for his latest injury because he was buying a new car.

Aware that England are unlikely to compete consistently on hard pitches without a top-class leg-spinner, Lloyd has suggested a 'mini academy' for young wrist spinners, with a view to finding a match-winner within five years.

Lloyd has been encouraged to work this winter to identify any promising young wrist spinners in the 14 to 19 age group and arrange specialist coaching from respected leg-spin experts like Peter Sleep and Peter Kippax. A pool of national coaches has also been agreed in principle to work with players in or near to the England side at any time.

Mike Atherton is about to start a concentrated period of technical fine-tuning with Graham Gooch, who is likely to be joined in the near future by Mike Gatting, John Emburey (spin), Geoff Arnold and Graham Dilley (fast bowling) and Alan Knott (wicketkeeping).

Dean Riddle, the New Zealand-born former rugby league expert, will continue in charge of England's diet and fitness, and a psychologist is likely to be available.

When old players say that matches are won by wickets and runs, Lloyd agrees, but he also points out that all these additional provisions are already well established in Australia and South Africa.

PART of England's preparation against Australia last season was a Statsmaster video system, which logs every ball of a day's play and allows the coach to pick on any particular aspect.

A wicketkeeper, for example, can see every ball which pitched in front of first slip and ask himself if they were standing too deep or the slips too close or too wide.

I understand that when a random comparison of 12 balls bowled by England and 12 by Australia was called for, it demonstrated all too graphically the difference in consistency of line and length between McGrath, Gillespie and Reiffel on one side and Malcolm, Caddick and Headley on the other.

The same system will give England a detailed analysis of the individual strengths and weaknesses of West Indian players this winter. It costs £22,000, and Lloyd is believed to have suggested to the board that every county should have one.

That would be but a small slice of the £1 million or so due to be passed on to the counties from this year's profits, and the board might see the sense in negotiating a blanket deal at a cheaper price and investing in 18 such systems towards the often quoted ideal of ``18 centres of excellence''.

Lloyd's vision remains a county system which truly prepares potential England players for international cricket and then allows them rest and quality practice time with the best coaches on the best surfaces.

It is a long way yet from being realised but, little by little, it may be coming closer.