Chris Waters: Left short-changed as supporting cast take centre stage

One wonders what that figure might have been had the identity of the England squad been known prior to people purchasing tickets.

Yorkshire sold out this showpiece match some time ago; a concerted marketing campaign, allied to a meeting between the Ashes rivals, ensured there would no repeat of what happened earlier this summer, when it proved predictably hard for the club to sell tickets for a Test match against New Zealand in May.

However, a potentially attractive ODI has been rendered, if not unattractive, then certainly less glamorous by the absence of several key players ahead of the winter’s Ashes re-match.

With that series in mind, England have rested captain Alastair Cook, batsman Ian Bell, spinner Graeme Swann and pace bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad for this ODI campaign.

If it is not quite akin to putting on a production of Hamlet without the central figure of Hamlet, it is certainly a blow to those who had hoped to see the creme-de-la-creme rather than a highly-talented supporting cast.

Of course, it is feasible that folk would still have flocked to Headingley, Old Trafford, Edgbaston, the SWALEC Stadium and Ageas Bowl, venues for the latest in an interminable round of fixtures between England and Australia.

However, there is a feeling abroad that folk have been short-changed and that instead of watching the best possible England side, they will, instead, be watching the equivalent of a Manchester United team featuring Javier Hernandez up front instead of Robin van Persie.

It is a feeling with which former England captain Michael Vaughan sympathises judging by his Twitter account.

Vaughan is becoming refreshingly outspoken – why, if he could only be persuaded to take up a pipe and throw in the odd “I don’t know what’s going off out there”, he could prove a splendid successor in time to Fred Trueman – and I agreed with him when he tweeted: “I would have only rested Captain Cook. Plenty of time to rest from Sep 16-Nov 21. Can’t sell tickets then rest 5 star names.

“No problems resting players, but I think supporters who have paid good money to watch the best should get a small refund.”

Perhaps the key word there is “supporters”. For so often, it is supporters who get overlooked.

England perhaps forget that cricket is an entertainment business and that entertainment is best provided by the best entertainers.

Instead, Team England appear to believe that the game exists, first and foremost, for their own benefit – a point most eloquently highlighted by the fact that leading stars hardly ever turn out for their counties any more.

If anyone doubts this fact, consider the words – innocently expressed in April – of England’s limited-overs coach, Ashley Giles.

Ruminating on the fact there could be occasions when Andy Flower, the England team director, wants to rest players against his wishes, Giles said: “There could well be a situation down the line where Andy says you can’t have him (ie, a certain player) and I say, ‘well, I want him.’

“But, ultimately, Andy is in charge, he’s team director, and we’ll have those discussions if we have to have them behind closed doors and come out in agreement.

“Ultimately, it’s the good of English cricket. It’s a cliché, but that’s what we’re here for.”

Yet surely what English cricket should be there for, first and foremost, is its supporters – not the selectors, players, or anybody else.

Yorkshire and supporters deserve better than to welcome a watered down England team to Headingley today.

For without its supporters, the people who pay their hard-earned money in times of austerity, what is cricket?