The England players who played in the first half of the IPL for various franchises will miss the second half of the season due to national commitments. The same was confirmed by Ashley Giles, ECB’s director of men’s cricket. England losing the series to India at home led to ECB thinking hard on improving their international cricket results which is why this decision was taken. England players missing Test matches to play in another country’s domestic T20 league was always going to be criticised.
While the BCCI is looking for a window in September – between the home series against India and the T20 World Cup – or after the T20 World Cup ends in November, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) wishes to follow the tight schedule as laid out in the Future Tours Programme (FTP).
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“We’re planning on the involvement of England players in England matches. We’ve got a full FTP schedule. So if those tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh [in September and October] are going ahead, I’d expect the players to be there,” England men’s director of cricket Ashley Giles told British media.
England play New Zealand in two Tests on June 2-14 in a series that was hastily arranged and Giles said the IPL players were allowed to skip the Test series as an exception since their IPL contracts were already formalised. This being a crucial series for England after their loss against India, the ECB made a rethinking on having all their test regulars available for the series. There was a chance that as many as four of England’s first-choice team would have been missing against New Zealand had they been allowed to play the IPL.
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“The New Zealand scenario was very different. Those Test matches were formalised at the end of January, by which time all those contracts and NOCs [no objection certificates] were signed for full involvement in the IPL. “None of us knows what a rearranged IPL looks like at the moment; where it’s going to be or when. But from when we start this summer against New Zealand, our programme is incredibly busy. We’ve got a lot of important, high-profile cricket including the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. And we’re going to have to look after our players” Giles said further.
England have a tough year ahead as they travel to Bangladesh in September. They then travel to Pakistan in mid-October. They play the T20 World Cup then and then travel to Australia for Ashes that begins on December 8.
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