A player who picks IPL over national side must be told ‘See you later’

Giles is sending wrong message and risks allowing game to follow football with clubs above national sides

England are being paranoid if they think their players will turn down a central contract to play in the Indian Premier League.

Ashley Giles, England’s managing director, told my show on the BBC this week that England do not want to go “toeto-toe” with players over the IPL because in the long run “we may face losing some of our best players”.

I think that is a wrong message to be sending. If an England player came to me aged 26 or 27 and said he was choosing the IPL and franchise cricket over an England deal my response would be: “Go on then, see you later, goodbye. But I tell you what, I bet you come knocking back on my door in a year or two’s time.”

If England really want to make sure it does not happen, then why not offer their best players two or three-year central contracts? High-level sport is about looking after the best individuals, so give Ben Stokes or Jofra Archer more than one year. That way you are tying them down. Instead they have 12-month deals.

But I do not get the impression from the camp that England’s leading players would turn down playing for their country. I have not heard of anyone rocking the boat.

Playing for England means everything. I feel this England group are as committed to drive the team forward as any of their predecessors.

I am not inside the dressing room so I do not know the conversations and perhaps there are agents threatening stuff but I see a commitment to the cause. They demand everyone buys in to a set of principles.

Any individual who goes away from those gets brought back into line by players, not the management. They have a strong group of senior players who know what they are about and what they want. They do not want idiots in the team or people who put something else first before England. They are a hard-working, dynamic group.

I have heard they were willing to leave the IPL in May to prepare for the New Zealand Test series. They were surprised to be told they can stay for all of it. They want to play at Lord’s in front of fans starved of cricket for 12 months.

The New Zealand series has been added to the schedule late, but so what? This Test team need to develop by playing together and winning. If you want to win an Ashes you have to have those shared experiences and become a better side. That is more important than a few more IPL games.

If we reach the stage where a player turns down a central contract for a franchise then cricket will be going the same way as football. It will be the moment when we say goodbye to international cricket as it is now.

In years to come we will say that was the day when international cricket became second class to franchise formats.

The Premier League is a better product than international football other than World Cups and European Championships. You get the feeling players try to pull out of friendlies and the fans feel like they are missing out when international

The ECB needs to realise how powerful it is. Your commercial value comes from playing for England

weeks are on because the Premier League is on hold.

Cricket is not there yet but it could happen. This is why boards need to realise how powerful they are. I accept that countries such as Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies might not be able to pay their players enough to prevent them putting franchise cricket first. But that is not the case for England. The ECB contract brings you pastoral care, medical insurance, they look after your family really well and a guarantee of 12 months’ income. Your commercial value derives from being an England player.

They can also still play a big chunk of the IPL and earn money on the side. Ten years ago that was not the case, so there was a risk of a player turning down a central contract, but England have managed it well since then.

I just wonder if there is more to this. Have England just realised they made a mistake by allowing the players to commit to a full IPL and are now trying to justify it in their own minds? Something about this just does not make sense to me.