ECB firm over player priorities
The ECB have reiterated that international cricket takes precedent over any IPL deals the England players want to take up
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However, time is tight for the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff to spend time in the IPL with England not finishing their tour of West Indies until April 3 and the home international season due to start in early May. The second IPL tournament begins on April 10 with England players hoping for a 10-day slot to make an appearance. There is the added difficulty that the early-season opponents are still not confirmed with Sri Lanka's proposed trip having collapsed because of 13 leading players having IPL deals.
"We will be playing Test matches in the early part of May and clearly that will have an impact on the amount of time that players may or may not go to IPL," Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said. "My understanding is that the ICC, IPL and the ECB have made it very clear from the word go that international cricket takes precedence over domestic tournaments and I think that will be the case."
Morris also said coach Peter Moores was the person who "managed the player's programme" and would suggest which players would travel to India for the IPL. "Some players need to play a lot, some need to rest. It is trying to get the right balance between preparation, rest and playing," he said. "Peter and I have discussed this, as you can imagine. Peter makes a recommendation to me and that goes to the board."
The ECB and IPL had a meeting last week over the release of England players but failed to reach an understanding. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, said last month that he wanted England players to be available for a significant portion of the seven-week tournament.
England players are waiting for a decision on their IPL participation before they sign this year's central contracts. The IPL's rules require anyone taking part in the tournament to have a 'No Objection Certificate' from their respective boards.
"One of the key considerations in terms of the central contract is that we have to iron out the early part of next season. Until we do that then potentially it's difficult to nail everything down," Morris added. "We're hoping to confirm things as soon as we possibly can, we have to nail it down, not just for our peace of mind and to sort central contracts out, but the grounds hosting the games need to know."
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