Players forced to pay for team masseuse

England's preparations for the series against West Indies will include a masseuse for the first time - but the players have had to pay a third of the cost of having Vickki Byrne accompany them after what one newspaper described as "a tense stand off with Lord's".

Michael Vaughan asked the England & Wales Cricket Board to pay Byrne's £15,000 bill, but the board would only stump up a third, with a sponsor picking up another third. That left the players to make up the difference.

"At the start of every tour the ECB provide a sum that can go towards the cost of providing a local masseur, to be sourced locally," explained an ECB spokesman. "Vickki worked for the team throughout last summer, however, and the players wanted her on board for this tour as part of the management team. While we want to give the England players the best possible support, we have had to operate within certain financial constraints during the last year and we can't throw money at the team."

Byrne, who owns the Reading-based Body Works International, has worked with the England team for the past two years. She travelled with the side to Jamaica last week - but while the players were in business class, she was stuck back in economy.