ECB Looks for IPL Push-Back to Get English Players Involved

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) attracting more and more international players, the English Cricket Board (ECB) have tried to accomodate the great interest from English players by asking the BCCI to reschedule future IPL seasons.

David Collier (pictured left), the ECB chief executive told the Times, Collier that he had recently held talks with officials from the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa with a view to finding a solution to the tensions created within international cricket by the growth of domestic T20 leagues.

Collier has suggested that the IPL be completed before the end of April to allow England players to participate without compromising their involvement in England’s international schedule which starts in mid-May. This year’s IPL ends on May 26.

“We have had very fruitful talks with India,” Collier said. “In an ideal world, we would like the IPL to be concluded by April 30, which is the cooler season for India. We have put that to them, they are doing their best, but they realise there are some limitations.

“It would make things a lot easier for us. We still have to get the workload balance right, but it would make it a lot easier for our players to be available for that period and certainly the BCCI are fully aware of that. There is a willingness on the part of both boards to see if we can make any progress.”

This follows Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) requesting substantial pay increases to compensate its members for their non-appearance, or at best fleeting appearance, in the IPL, and have argued that Australian players earn far more from their Board and have more opportunity to appear in T20 leagues such as the IPL and Big Bash.

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