Counties unite in call to stem the IPL exodus
ECB urged to address flow of players to T20 Moxon demands voice in shaping the future
The first-class counties will call on the ECB to do more to prevent players being plundered by the Indian Premier League and address concerns over the future of red-ball cricket in England.
A meeting of 17 of the 18 counties’ directors of cricket at Edgbaston ended with a warning that “urgent” decisions are needed to address the situation after Yorkshire became the latest county to have their preseason plans thrown into chaos by the IPL.
David Willey withdrew from Yorkshire’s friendly with Leicestershire to join Chennai Super Kings, the 12th Englishman to sign up for the IPL – more than in any previous year. Four of those – Durham’s Mark Wood, Surrey’s Tom Curran, and the Yorkshire pair of Liam Plunkett and Willey – have been signed as replacement players in recent weeks, demonstrating how counties are having their plans scuppered on the brink of the season.
The directors of cricket will now report back to their chief executives, who will then take concrete proposals to the ECB to resolve both the IPL issues and ensure further clarity over the future of the county game.
“Everyone spoke with a view to it being about game as a whole and not self-interest,” said Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, who chaired the meeting that was attended by all counties bar Essex. “Decisions are going to have to be made over the next 12 months or so. There is an urgency that we get on with it. We want a voice in what the future looks like, that’s all. We’re keen to help in any way we can to make sure the decisions that have to made over the next year or so are the best for the game as a whole.”
The loss of players to the IPL is a key issue, with individuals paying their counties one per cent of their annual salary for each day they are away for the first 21 days, and a further 0.7 per cent thereafter.
But there is widespread feeling within the English game that the IPL itself should pay more to compensate counties for signing their players.
Every international board, including the ECB, receives a payment from the IPL for every player from that country who plays in the competition. Some counties are pushing for the counties themselves to receive a proportion of these payments.
The ECB believes that, were this the case, counties would not also be able to keep the current arrangement of players repaying part of their county salaries, and that it is better instead for the game that the IPL’S money is invested in all aspects of the sport in England and Wales.
The new English T20 competition will cause further uncertainty. A growing number of counties support playing the County Championship during the new month-long tournament, to ensure that English players not signed up to the new competition – likely to number in the region of 250 – can remain active. It is also feared that the County Championship could be pushed even more to the margins of the season, with virtually no red-ball cricket at all played between the end of May and start of September.
Meanwhile, Surrey have confirmed the signing of Morne Morkel, as exclusively revealed in Telegraph Sport last week. Morkel will join as a Kolpak player on a two-year contract, and will be available for Surrey’s opening County Championship game on April 20.