It has all the makings of a classic TV courtroom drama. On one side there is an England batsman represented by the wife of the Prime Minister. On the other, a venerated county cricket club, and the hearing before a panel headed by a distinguished lawyer with his own cricketing credentials.

Crawley - Lord's date for hearing Photo CricInfo

But it is not fiction, nor is the case being heard in the Royal Courts of Justice. The venue is Lord's, the date Friday 15th February and the case concerns John Crawley and his claim that he has, in effect, been constructively dismissed by Lancashire. The county refutes that claim and so, for the first time, the ECB Contracts Appeal Panel has been called in to arbitrate.

30-year-old Crawley made his debut for Lancashire in 1990 before going up to Cambridge University where he enjoyed an outstanding cricketing stay. Coming from the same school, county and university as Mike Atherton, he was always expected to follow his mentor into the England side, and he did so in 1994. He became Lancashire captain in 1999 but was relieved of the post after the 2001 season, when his form with the bat suffered, and the side narrowly avoided relegation.

It was at this point that relations between the player and his county were seen to be more than just strained. Crawley made it plain that he wanted away and issued a statement saying: "As far as I am concerned I am no longer a Lancashire player, and in fact Mike Watkinson has told me not to attend any training sessions involving the playing staff."

Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes countered, telling CricInfo: "There is a conflict between John and the club which we are still trying to iron out. As to the reports that he has been banned from the training ground, they are simply not true."

Claim and counter-claim then followed until Crawley gave official notice to Lancashire that he was invoking the clause in his contract that states: "If the Club shall be guilty of serious or persistent breach of the terms and conditions of this Agreement [i.e. player contract with the club] the Cricketer may, on giving not less than seven days' written notice to the Club, terminate this Agreement."

Such a procedure requires the Contract Appeals Panel to sit. It was convened by the chairman of the Registration Committee of the ECB, David Kemp, who is sitting on the panel himself along with the representative of the Professional Cricketers' Association, former Derbyshire batsman and now lawyer Tim O'Gorman, under the chairmanship of another eminent lawyer and cricketer, Francis Neate.

Neate is a former captain of Berkshire who enjoyed a career in first-class cricket at Oxford University where he averaged nearly 40 as a right-handed batsman. In 1961 he took a century off Hampshire – one of the counties considered to be a leading contender for Crawley's signature if he is allowed to leave Lancashire – and finished as the second Englishman in the first-class averages behind Ken Barrington. He became solicitor to the old Test and County Cricket Board, where one of his duties was to produce the constitution of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Since being asked to chair this panel Neate has had to determine its procedures, as the terms only exist in skeleton form and there is no precedent from which he can work. After each side has put its case, the three members of the panel will consider the evidence and decide on the outcome. There is a right of appeal, which somehow seems appropriate in a cricketing matter.

Crawley has enlisted a big name to fight his corner. Cherie Booth, QC, is a specialist in employment law and, as wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, should not be unfamiliar with causes that have a red rose as their emblem.

Jack Simmons Photo John Dawson

Lancashire chairman Jack Simmons is adamant that he wants Crawley playing under the red rose of Lancashire next season, and for the duration of the four-year contract that he is not yet halfway through. Crawley, however, claims that there are "irreconcilable differences" between them and is equally adamant he will not play for Lancashire again.

Now it is up to the panel to decide, but it is difficult to imagine how the player could be forced to see out the remainder of his contract against his will. Lancashire would no doubt be loath to continue paying someone who was unhappy, not performing and, potentially, having a disruptive presence in the club. And it would be tragic if a player of Crawley's quality were lost to the game.

To add an interesting twist to the tale, Francis Neate's son, Patrick, has just won the Whitbread Novel of the Year award for his book "Twelve-Bar Blues". Perhaps this case will ultimately provide enough material to constitute a book in its own right.

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