The inadequate preparation was a focal point in the review of England’s disappointing 4-1 defeat in the Ashes. This year, the team will dive into five Tests over seven weeks, preceded by a white-ball series in New Zealand and an intra-squad game in Perth that lacked the status and intensity of first-class cricket.

Players like Harry Brook, whose Hundred contracts have swelled beyond £400,000 due to recent external investments, may find themselves torn between commitments to different employers.

New investors in the eight-team competition are eager to see their investment pay off, ensuring that star players with ECB contracts will be expected to compete in the Lord’s final on August 16. This comes just hours before the first of three Tests against Pakistan kicks off at Headingley.

New backers in the eight-team tournament will want some bang for their buck, meaning star names with ECB central contracts will be obliged to feature in the Lord’s final on the evening of August 16, hours before the first of three Tests versus Pakistan begins at Headingley.

In the event of fair weather, Test players involved in the 100-ball-a-side showpiece would face a four-hour hike up the M1 on the Monday morning, making them extremely unlikely to practise in such circumstances and reducing their build-up to the August 19 fixture to the day before.

Should rain take the final into its reserve day, they might have to forego netting in advance altogether, as happened last summer when a posse of England’s one-day squad travelled north to Leeds on September 1, having been at Lord’s the previous evening, and were unsurprisingly subjected to a seven-wicket drubbing by South Africa on September 2.

Harry Brook and other England stars are facing potential scheduling chaos this summer

The lack of bodies at Headingley in advance of the fixture meant training for that match was optional, and fairly unsatisfactory for those who did turn up.

Such is the shoehorning required to accommodate four domestic competitions plus an international programme into a six-month season that this episode is not an isolated one.

England’s first Twenty20 international meeting with India in Chester-le-Street on July 1 comes just 48 hours after the third Test against New Zealand is scheduled to conclude in Nottingham.

Should Ben Stokes’ side continue its trend of extending home Test matches deep into the fifth day, it would mean its multi-format members foregoing T20 practice in advance or being omitted altogether.

There is also likely to be another veto on England players featuring at Twenty20 finals day on July 18, with the 50-over series finale involving India beginning at 11am at Lord’s the following morning.