KP is the one making these demands, the ECB probably couldnt careless as long as hes available for the games hes contracted for, In the end the ECB's job is to protect ENGLISH cricket, just as the BCCI's job is to protect Indian cricket.
The ECB work inside an absolute monopoly of cricket in this country. If a player wants a cricket career and is qualified for England, in essence for that career to be lengthy, he has to agree to the terms and conditions of a central contract or he doesnt have a career. To say therefore that the ECB place no demands on a player is, again, absolute BS. The whole point of a central contract is you basically own a player and decide when and where he plays! The county has no say anymore, and this issue proves the player has no say.
Now in terms of English cricket, Team England is what financially supports the whole system. Without international cricket you have no county game, such is the difference in profits. Without the England players and their level of skill, you have no county game.
I think they are paid a fraction of a percentage of the eventually money generated from their matches! Compare this to other sports, Man City and Chelsea both spend more on wages then their turnover, and US sports have recently gone through collective bargaining agreements which guarantees the players, who are the real stars, an adequate percentage of the cash the sports generated(ie, I think the most recent in the NHL set the bar at 48-52% of all league revenue, in favour of the clubs, but this lead to massive pay increases for players!).
Considering the total wage for England team is roughly around 5- 8 million per year, spread between the squad, and the SKY deal alone to show their matches is is multiple times that(the renewal in 2012 was not disclosed, but the previous one in 2008 was £300million for 4 yeas, about ten times the cost of player wages to play in the matches shown)... its not hard to see why England players are earning such a small share of the pie, when it is them at the end of the day who makes the money and is what people tune and pay to see.
So in return for a tiny percentage of the profit, and in turn for no bargaining position on their contracts set my a monopoly power with sole responsibility and power to sanction matches for them to play at the top level, they put their body on the line, have to be available for all matches(which also means being abroad for months away from families) and run the risk of injury or mental burnout from the pressure.
If you think therefore that a player arguing against this is "making all the demands" then you are tragically misinformed. ECB contracts are heavily weighed in the ECB's favour considering what they get out of a player in terms of economic value.... made even more one sided by reactions like FLowers to KP currently.
They are just slave labour.
