England coach Duncan Fletcher has taken a huge gamble in telling Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard that they cannot play for Yorkshire in today's four-day game against Derbyshire at Headingley.
Of several England players who clearly need time in the middle, the England captain and the least effective bowler of his pace quartet in the Lord's debacle are in the front row.
It almost beggars belief that the coach has stopped anyone playing in the championship matches this week but is prepared to release several players for one-day cricket at the weekend, particularly as he claimed that one of the reasons behind a woeful effort at Lord's, was " a lack of first class cricket."
This week's four day games finish by the end of the week, leaving ample time for "hard practise and one-to-ones I think will be more beneficial, " with which Fletcher will spend his time this week.
The second Ashes Test starts in nine days' time, so why not get the best of both worlds and let his players have a four-day game, followed by his precious "one-to-ones?"
Vaughan is just as blameworthy, because of his reliance on Fletcher to sort him out - just as he did last summer when a poor start to the New Zealand series led to the same sort of one-to-ones, followed by an historic hundred in each innings in the Lord's Test against the West Indies.
This year is different. Vaughan claimed he was "in nick." Rubbish.
His pick-up is now from first slip on a downwards plane to mid-on. His footwork is minimal and Glenn McGrath has reduced him almost to a walking wicket.
All the net practice and the one-to-ones amount to nothing compared with time in the middle. Get the footwork going, hour after hour.
Similarly with Hoggard. He has been smacked everywhere in Twenty20 and other one day cricket. He needs 50 first-class overs under his belt, as was shown at Lord's.
The ultimate cock-up is if either or both Yorkshiremen are allowed to play one-day cricket next weekend. Fletcher's neck should be on the block if Vaughan fails in the Edgbaston Test and Hoggard is no more threatening than he has been all summer.
