Well there goes England’s (very slim) chances of winning the World Cup next February*.

In a move that must have been taken with the widely cherished post-Ashes seven-match ODI series in mind, the ECB and Cricket Australia this morning announced that they have repeated the trick: that’s right, we’ve all got two Twenty20s and seven one-dayers to look forward to after the final Test at Sydney.

If that wasn’t crazy enough, the final ODI (that’s the seventh, remember), is 13 days before the World Cup starts. In the subcontinent.

Problem A: England’s preparation for a tournament they’ve embarrassingly never won will be in completely different conditions to those they’ll face in the World Cup. Problem B: It’s more than likely they’ll get stuffed by Australia. Great for morale**.

Although, on a brighter note, England did get to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy after the tournament started just five days following the final one-dayer against Australia in the summer. That was down to the players though, not the scheduling.

After Australia beat England 6-1 last summer, Ricky Ponting said: “Over the last couple of years, I have said a few times that seven games in a bilateral series is too many. Five is enough, but we all know the reasons why we play a seven-game series.”

That reason is, of course, money. Cricket Australia obviously believes that it is far more sensible playing as many meaningless ODIs as possible than listening to their team’s captain. A captain that has played in four World Cup finals, three of those on the winning side and two of those as captain of the winning side (and not forgetting leading Australia to two Champions Trophy triumphs). What would he know about it all?

James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, justified it by saying: “It’s a very busy period for the Australian cricket team over the next 18 months with an Ashes trophy to regain, but we also have a very strong focus on retaining our position as the No.1-ranked one-day team in the world.” Yep, and Robinho moved to Manchester City to retain his position as one of the world’s best footballers.

This schedule has, at least, made something very clear: Andrew Strauss was right to miss the Bangladesh tour to take time off. He obviously knew how little interest his and other boards have in treating their players well or intelligently.

* Not just in February of course, but March and April also. Why have a World Cup in just one month when it can be spread over three?

** Yes England got to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy shortly after they were thrashed by Australia in the summer, but it won’t happen again. Not on subcontinent pitches.

Daniel Brigham is assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer

Follow him on twitter: WisdenCric_Dan