Fletcher and Graveney in Schofield's line of fire

England will play in the World Cup while a revolutionary inquiry into the state of the team is being conducted. Whatever happens in the Caribbean in March and April, the self-styled Team England may never be the same again, with the jobs of the coach, the chairman of selectors - and the selection process - under serious threat.

The Schofield Review, instigated after the disastrous 5-0 defeat in the Ashes, is already gathering information on where the future lies and will continue as the World Cup proceeds. If the timing can be considered unfortunate, with the team attempting to win the most prestigious one-day competition for the first time at the ninth attempt, the mood is one of determination for radical overhaul. It does not take an NVQ in Careers Advice to suggest that both the coach, Duncan Fletcher, and the selectors' chairman, David Graveney, may be fortunate indeed to survive.

Related articles

• Pakistan prepare to lose Shoaib and Asif

To quell the sceptics - and they are more legion than English wides in those bad old days before victory in the CB Series - assurances have been given that the recommendations will not only be made public but acted on immediately. The review is being chaired by Ken Schofield, the former executive director of golf's PGA European Tour, and his panel contains six former Test cricketers of varying vintages.

The first gathering of the panel in one room will take place tomorrow, but Schofield has already taken signifcant soundings from a multitude of other quarters, from top administrators down.

One meeting seemed to provide an early test of the England and Wales Cricket Board's determination for candour. Invitations were issued stipulating that the assembly would be conducted under Chatham House Rules (proceedings can be reported as long as speakers are not identified). At the last minute this was changed to Off The Record, known from hereon as the ECB Capital Hotel Rule after the Knightsbridge establishment in which the group gathered.

Proprieties must be honoured, but The Independent On Sunday had submitted its observations to the Schofield Review a week before. These are subject neither to Chatham House nor ECB Capital Hotel rules.

Selection policy is in need of drastic honing. At present (and this is enshrined in an official protocol) the selection panel, who happen to include Fletcher, pick the team at home. On tour, the team from a squad of, say, 16 are picked by Fletcher and the captain, most recently Andrew Flintoff, a highly improbable pairing. This led directly to the risible omission of Monty Panesar for the First Test in Brisbane last November. In future - and this should long since have been recognised - a selector, usually the chairman, should always be on tour. The chairman should also be paid a proper salary.

Ignore what other countries do; England are not other countries. We have more professional cricketers than any other country - almost more than all other countries put together - and it is odd that the fate of the national team is in the hands of somebody regarded as nothing more than a well-meaning amateur.

The root of the problems in Australia lay in the uneasy, mutually suspicious relationship between Fletcher and Graveney. It has been said before here and is worth repeating that they need their heads banging together. Otherwise they deserve firing.

So absurdly fractured is the relationship that on the eve of the Third Test, with the Ashes themselves about to disappear up the Murray-Darling, Graveney rang the media relations manager to find out the team.

The discarding of Graveney has led to too much influence for Fletcher. But it is a kind of power without responsibility. Fletcher is a remarkable coach, and the siren calls for him to go should not be heeded. But he has to recognise his weaknesses, and he has led tours badly to the point where England are seen as mildly unwelcome guests. The squads, while invariably amenable, live in their own bubble. England should have a proper manager, perhaps, but perhaps not the chairman of selectors.

Wives and girlfriends of sports stars provide the tittle-tattle de nos jours. They were there in force during the Ashes. It is all nonsense, and anybody thinking otherwise should read the last chapter of Steve Waugh's monumental autobiography, Out Of My Comfort Zone. It is written by his wife, Lynette, and tells how they could hardly bear to be apart. The problem on England's tour was that players' families seemed to assume that hubby/daddy was on holiday, not involved in the most important series of his life.

The Schofield Review promises to say a great deal. It is what it does that matters. And English cricket is well aware that it has been down this road before. Who can ever forget, for instance, the Committee of Inquiry, otherwise known as the Altham Report, from 1949? The Acfield Report - on selection - from 10 years ago? The National Strategy from 2001, which proposed establishing England as the best team in the world? By 2007. It is to be hoped the Schofield Review does not join them in gathering dust.