England stars to sacrifice IPL
ENGLAND’S players will be pulled out of next year’s Indian Premier League early to prepare for the World Cup on home soil.
In a bid to boost the chances of England landing a first 50-over World Cup, the seven players contracted to IPL franchises, including key allrounder Ben Stokes, will miss almost half of the lucrative six-week T20 competition.
The ECB are expected to recall all players by May 1, with the IPL final on May 19 and the World Cup starting 11 days later when the hosts take on South Africa at the Oval.
One-day captain Eoin Morgan, speaking on the day the World Cup fixtures were released, confirmed: “It’s something we discussed before the IPL auction this year and it’s yet to be decided how much or how little every player is going to play. But it’s going to be a lot less than this year.
“It’s an important part of guys’ development but in the lead-in to a World Cup we want to be together as a side ready to play.
“This has been our planning for the past two years so I don’t foresee it being a problem or an issue.”
England have an abysmal record at World Cups since reaching their last final in 1992, being knocked out in the first round when they last hosted it in 1999 and also exiting the most recent tournament in Australia and New Zealand at the first hurdle.
However, the one-day team have enjoyed a remarkable transformation under Morgan’s captaincy, winning their last six series including away to Australia and New Zealand this winter.
❑ MIDDLESEX and England seamer Toby Roland-Jones has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a recurrence of a stress fracture to his back.