When I was a lad growing up in Leeds, life was very simple. You got up, had breakfast, went to school, came home, did homework (or not), had tea, watched TV and went to bed. Between late August and mid-April you watched football and the rest of the time you watched cricket. That’s the way your year was set out since biblical times and you did not argue, you just got on with it.

There was a brief overlap of two weeks or so when the football season would start and the cricket season would end, and there were a few heroes who made a living out of both codes. Before my time Denis Compton, one of the finest batsmen of all time, also spent his winters turning out for Arsenal. And in my era there were many more; Ted Hemsley (Sheffield United and Worcestershire), Jim Standen (West Ham United and Worcestershire), Chris Balderstone (Carlisle United – among others – and Leicestershire), Brian Close (Bradford PA and Leeds United as an amateur), Ken Taylor (Huddersfield Town and Yorkshire). Balderstone created a bit of history for himself when he became the first player to play both codes on the same day; after fielding for Leicestershire all day, he turned out for Carlisle United in the evening.

Of course, this kind of lifestyle would be impossible today, which is why one Gary Neville chose Manchester United over Lancashire (he was good enough for both games). No, these days, no football club would be able to get insurance against a cricket injury and no sportsman good enough for both games would want to trade a salary at least 20 times higher for the pleasure of turning out in a quaint English town like Canterbury in front of 200 retired majors.

These days, with their agents organising signing sessions for books the players could not read, let alone write, along with a raft of other sponsorship deals, footballers do not have time for a three-month break. Their dieticians, psychologists, mentors, therapists and lifestyle coaches would have too much to say.

In my day, those footballers not good enough to play cricket would eke out a living in the summer as insurance salesmen or taxi drivers, because the money earned throughout the season was a pittance by today’s standards.

This issue is not confined to England. Australian contracted Test players earn relatively well, but there is some worry that the most talented youngsters who show all-round ability in Aussie Rules football and cricket are choosing the former as they can earn up to ten times more. And it is clear that the demise of the West Indies team over the past few years has plenty to do with youngsters in Jamaica being glued to satellite dishes as the NBA colonises the island. Any South African youngster worth his salt would choose a more lucrative career in football (especially if he has the chance to play in the UK) and the same goes to some extent for Australians who are talented at soccer, like Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill.

It is only in Asia that cricket rules. Sachin Tendulkar and Inzaman-ul-Haq are the equivalent of David Beckham and Ronaldinho in terms of status and earnings.

The problem with cricket in the UK, and to some extent in Australia and New Zealand, is that it only becomes a viable career option if the player makes it to international level. The journeyman county cricketer is still plying his trade as an underpaid artisan, clocking up thousands of miles a season in the vain hope of being spotted by the Test selectors. The rewards are limited, especially as Test stars are only too pleased to earn a few thousand pounds so as to keep their eye in ahead of an international series.

It’s a shame it has come to this, because in the long term it will affect the quality and diversity of the Test side if the only people who can afford to play cricket are those with other sources of income. We all remember with pride the performances of Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard in the Ashes series last year, but how many of us even bothered to check if our county team had a promising youngster coming through? Unless we address the problem, there may not even be a domestic infrastructure in 20 years.