Games on the field, and off it
Nothing is going right for England
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Nothing is going right for England. Defeat on the field is being accompanied by desperate – and, so far, similarly successful – brinkmanship off it, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
At the core of fractious negotiations is Twenty20 cricket: the Indian Premier League and whether England's players appear in it, the so-called England Premier League and Indian involvement, and the future format of the Champions League. Everyone wants a share of the money, but in essence it is up to India whether they get it. England must have Indian players, and many other nationalities, taking part in their Premier League due to start in 2010, otherwise it could face serious trouble under trade description regulations, let alone crowd resistance. But in return India want more involvement by English players in the IPL.
Watching how the Indian players have gone about their skills in the current one-day series it is clear to me that playing in the IPL has helped them improve in vital areas and had a huge benefit on their team, writes Steve Harmison in the Mail on Sunday.
And the danger for England is that if our players are not involved in the IPL in future we could get left far behind in certain areas. Yuvraj Singh has been fantastic, of course, but other less well known batsmen, such as Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan, have shown what they've learned from the high-pressure demands and challenges of regular Twenty20 cricket against top opposition in the IPL. Batsmen are no longer content to look for 260-275 as par scores, and are now looking for a minimum of 290-300 every time.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo