London, Jan. 23: The England and Wales Cricket Board''s decision to sanction a three-week Indian Premier League window may have prompted optimistic noises from Lalit Modi, the league''s chairman, but several England players are likely to miss out.

The month-long transfer window closed last night with little trading done, and all attention now turns to the February 6 player auction.

A preliminary list is unlikely to contain more than half-a-dozen Englishmen.

Even Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who have attracted interest from most of the eight franchises, are unlikely to inspire the sort of strato-spheric deals that last season clinched Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings: 1.5 million dollars) and Andrew Symonds (Deccan Chargers: 1.375 million dollars).

As well as the obvious effect of the global economic downturn is the bitter experience of franchises that signed star players only for the initial part of the in-augural IPL season.

Those English players that are signed will miss the second half of the season, and forfeit approximately half their fee as a result.

While Pietersen and Flintoff will undoubtedly get contracts, unavailability for the business end of the season will seriously hamper the prospects of the Test fringe players.

It is possible someone like Owais Shah might miss out because he is likely to be part of the Test squad that faces West Indies in May, even if he spends the month ferrying drinks.

Pietersen has been strongly linked with Bangalore''s Royal Challengers, while Chennai and the Mumbai Indians are at the forefront of the interest in Flintoff. (ANI)