The commercialization of cricket has continued this week with the latest IPL auction in Mumbai. However,the new signings have not captured the public imagination as those in previous years.

What has become evident is that established Test players are increasingly thinking about the length of their international careers and how these may be threatened by burn-out even though the financial incentives for signing up to IPL are extraordinary. In the case of players representing England their monetary value as players is diminished because the packed international schedule reduces thier availability and to a lesser degree this applies also to potential Australian recruits. Yet when the details of the auction are scrutinized the three major outlays were for players either unproven at international level (Kieron Pollard and Kemar Roach) or as in the case of Shane Bond, a fast bowler recently retired from international cricket who is beset by injury.

The message that this conveys is that the best players may not be drawn towards the Tournament and that besides watching their own heroes, the sub-conintenatal crowds and sponsors may begin to lose interest. However,even if this does happen IPL will have had an enduring impact on international cricket, with the consolidation of 20/20, the arrival of floodlit Tests and the overall quickening of the pace of scoring. I am sure that a recently deceased Australian business tycoon is chortling in his grave knowing that theses developments are merely building blocks on the foundations he laid in his own cricket revolution.