Fraser fears for future of cash-hit Twenty20

“There were problems with payments to players in the first season of the Bangladesh Premier League. While it’s great, Twenty20 is not quite what it appears when you scratch the surface. That’s why you’ve got to be careful and it’s why the other parts of the game will still remain very important, because people realise there is no certainty about where Twenty20 will be in maybe five or 10 years’ time.

“A lot of people pick the stats they want to find in Twenty20 to play it off against Test cricket and try to make out that the five-day game is the poor relation but we’ll see.”

Many of Pietersen’s England team-mates would like the chance to agree a deal similar to the £1.3million contract the batsman has with Delhi Daredevils. But the IPL clashes with the early part of the English summer, which has dissuaded many franchises — and the debate is not confined to the international game.

England Twenty20 opener Michael Lumb claimed he had considered becoming a ‘freelance’ cricketer, with no ties to a county, after Nottinghamshire banned their players from taking part in the IPL.

The County Championship began today and, superficially, it is easy to draw an unfavourable comparison with the IPL, which started earlier this month in front of large audiences.

Yet Fraser believes cricket bosses in this country have avoided placing too much emphasis on the shortest form — and he hopes they resist moving in that direction. Some prominent players, such as Middlesex and England batsman Eoin Morgan, support the introduction of a franchise-based competition similar to the Big Bash. In Fraser’s view, however, the goal remains clear: to develop players who can prosper at Test level.

“It’s good that our system has not been totally distracted by Twenty20 cricket, because you get the feeling that some other countries have been,” Fraser said. “This system is the best way of producing cricketers.

“The first-class game is where players develop the dexterity to go on to the higher level. If it just becomes Twenty20, the quality of the product will go down significantly and quite quickly.

“English cricket has got its priorities right and long may that continue. I can understand why players at the end of their careers would explore the T20 freelance route but let’s not forget that T20 contracts can come and go quite quickly.

“If you say to a county that you’re going to do your own thing and the plan doesn’t work out, it mightn’t be too easy to get the contract back when you return to that county. The freelance route will happen for older players but not the ones who aspire to shine in Tests.”