PAUL Collingwood, who has announced his retirement from Test cricket, will not be available for at least the first six weeks of Durham’s season after being signed by Rajasthan Royals at the Indian Premier League auction.

None of the six Yorkshire players who put their names forward were successful as the ten franchises shied away from English players at the weekend.

Even Graeme Swann and James Anderson failed to land contracts, although Hampshire pair Dimitri Mascarenhas and Michael Lumb scraped in at the bottom end of the price list.

That means they will be unavailable for the opening County Championship match against Durham at the Rose Bowl, starting on April 8.

Collingwood will also miss the four-day matches at Headingley and Worcester, plus the home games against Sussex, Warwickshrie and Somerset and five or six 40-over league games.

He should be available for Durham’s first eight Twenty20 games in June, but after that his availability will depend on whether he is required for England one-day duty.

If so he would be absent from June 25 to July 9 and again from August 30 to September 11.

His team-mates in the Royals include Australians Shane Warne, Shane Watson and Shaun Tait, Indian Rahul Dravid and Ross Taylor, the New Zealander who played T20 cricket for Durham last season.

Collingwood admitted he was relishing the prospect of playing alongside, rather than against, Warne, who once barracked him for receiving the MBE after playing in only the final Test of the 2005 Ashes.

‘‘I’m looking forward to it.

At least now we can get to know each other rather than just having battles on the field,’’ said Collingwood.

‘‘I’m very excited, it’s a new team for me and I’m very much looking forward to it.’’ The Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab were the two teams in danger of being suspended for allegedly not paying their players in full last season, but they appear to have been cleared by the IPL governing council.

Collingwood was priced at $250,000, while Kevin Pietersen was the England player with the highest value at $650,000. He will be with Deccan Chargers, who also signed Lumb for $80,000.

Other English players involved are Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Owais Shah.

Ashes hero Tim Bresnan was one of the six Yorkshire players who failed to attract a bid.

Bresnan was instrumental in victories over Australia at Melbourne and Sydney during the festive period, but that seemed to go unnoticed.

England squad man Ajmal Shahzad, Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale, new signing Ryan Sidebottom, Adam Lyth and Anthony McGrath all went unsold.

While English players were not expected to demand high fees because of the clash with preparations for their Test series against Sri Lanka in May, the fact Anderson and Swann – as well as Matt Prior and Luke Wright – were left on the shelf was one of the shocks of the day.

Collingwood was sure that was no reflection on the players’ standing outside England, but rather an indication that franchises were unwilling to spend money on players who would leave before the end of the tournament.

This year’s IPL runs from April 8 to May 22 with England’s Test players set to miss the run-in as they are due to report back to play at least one first-class game before the first Test against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on May 26.

‘‘The players have to be back to prepare for the Test match at the end of May so that will have affected the bids,’’ said Collingwood.

‘‘They are world-class bowlers and would have done fantastically well at the IPL.

It is a surprise, but I think it’s down to their availability.’’ Despite that Test regular Stuart Broad was picked up by the Kings XI Punjab for $400,000 while Eoin Morgan , the man most likely to replace Collingwood for the Test against Sri Lanka, was bought for $350,000 by the Kolkota Knight Riders.