The longer a chain of command, the greater the chance of its' weakest link breaking, as happened under astonishing circumstances in Mumbai on Saturday.
The England & Wales Cricket Board's Team England Management Group is already under pressure from the counties to explain the necessity for a back-up team of 14 people - just two fewer than the number of players - which is costing a small fortune for travel and accommodation for the nine weeks of the tour in India.
Specialists are on hand in all departments, including coaching, video analysis and every aspect of physical wellbeing from physiotherapy, physiology, massage, nutrition and a team doctor. Yet debutant Owais Shah's woeful lack of preparation on the first day of the final Test resulted in an attack of hand and forearm cramps from which he was forced to retire hurt during the tea interval.
He was diagnosed as suffering from dehydration, caused by a temperature of around 40 degrees and a humidity reading of 90 per cent. Physiologist Nigel Stockhill explained that: "it took us quite a while to ice him down and give him a massage following large doses of rehydration liquids."
He then added a sentence which made former England coach David ("we flippin' well murdered 'em") Lloyd go incandescent and break one of the golden rules in sport - that a former national coach does not criticise a successor on the basis that dog does not eat dog.
The offending addendum was that: "the problem arose because Shah was not expecting to play on the morning of the match and so did not follow standard procedures of fully hydrating himself before the start."
'Bumble' was unequivocal. "I find it staggering, absolutely staggering, that this happened," he said. "Firstly, it has happened to Shah before, when he toured Sri Lanka with the A team a few years ago. Secondly, the players are now weighed before the start of a match and at each interval to see if there is any noticeable loss of weight. Any big discrepancy is immediately rectified with liquid intake.
"There are two points. The lad himself must have known that Bombay can be very hot and was to blame for not treating himself properly when he found out at the last minute that he would be playing because of the stomach upset affecting Alastair Cook.
"That was unprofessional, but how did the back-up team allow him to do it? Staggering, absolutely staggering."
Lloyd is right to pinpoint the breakdown in communication between the player and those appointed to ensure that the players want for nothing in preparation for playing in the most draining and demanding conditions in world cricket.
It might not be a heads-must-roll offence, but surely it merits a proper inquiry by Dennis Amiss's Team England Management Group when the debriefing report is considered next month?
Steve Harmison also appears to have a minor problem with the back-up medical team with the party and their counterparts in this country. His sore right shin was scanned and x-rayed last week and he said this. "When I heard the results, I lay on my bed for four hours hoping it was a bad dream.
"I've suffered with shin pain since I started bowling, but usually I take anti-inflammatories and get on with it.
"This was different because I was in agony bowling in the second innings in Chandigarh. It was not the muscle pain I am used to, but it was the bone and I knew I couldn't play in the third Test and that my tour was over and I hoped I would be fit for the first Test at Lord's on May 11 against Sri Lanka.
"But next they told me that, on further investigations of the scans, they were less certain and I might even play in the Test or in the one-day series which starts on Tuesday week. Then they said I should have another scan and if anything showed up, I should definitely go home.
"Those tests showed nothing but, by that time, the original scans had been seen in England. The medics in England decided that although there was no sign of a stress fracture, there was a slim possibility one might develop, so we should err on the side of caution.
"This is not a criticism of the medical staff because they were reacting to the evidence as it became available, but by the time the decision was made, my head was spinning."
In other words, the back-up team in India and the medics at home were in a left-hand/right-hand situation, with the player an unhappy piggy-in-the-middle.
Previous injuries to key England players reflect similar confusion. Remember Simon Jones when he broke down in the fourth Test last year at Nottingham? The chairman of selectors was even told his right ankle might be fit enough for him to play at The Oval ten days later, but he had to miss the tour of Pakistan because of an operation.
Then there is Ashley Giles, forced to come home early from Pakistan in December because of a degenerative stress hip condition.
All sorts of optimistic noises came in January about him touring India. Then it was "hoped he could join the squad in early March". Since then, thankfully, Giles has taken over his own press releases and promises nothing until he is satisfied about his recovery period.
Injuries to Michael Vaughan were also accompanied by unjustifiable optimism and it is time that the chain of command in the England party is strengthened by more realistic public pronouncements about injuries.
It is worth repeating that ordinary tears to muscles, tendons and ligaments are more easily diagnosed and treated than stress injuries, usually sustained by bowlers because of a peculiarity in their action.
It is a truism, but irrefutable. As with fingerprints, no two bowling actions are identical - something the sizeable medical team does not appear to appreciate.
The Shah situation should never have happened and the sequence of events should be investigated, to prevent a repetition of a chain of communication which appears to creak with more than one weak link.
* Dennis Amiss is the guest of the Midland Branch of the Cricket Society at Edgbaston tomorrow night.
Warwickshire's outgoing chief executive will reflect on his career as a player and administrator and will also answer questions from the floor. The meeting begins in the Dollery Bar at 8pm and all are welcome.
