Strauss dilemma over which England stars can miss Ireland matches to reap IPL riches

AS IF ENGLAND’S task in winning a one-day series in India for the first time this century is not hard enough, the perennial hot potato of the Indian Premier League is once again being juggled in the background.

Today’s first of three 50-over internationals here is the perfect showcase for those players who, without an early summer Test series this year, see a rare opportunity to fully cash in on India Twenty20 riches.

However, Ireland’s first one-dayers to be staged in England are at the start of May, putting a spanner in the works.

Andrew Strauss, whose mantra is for limited-overs cricket to be treated as seriously as the Test game, is keen for England’s best white-ball players to get as much experience in the world’s best Twenty20 leagues as possible.

Yet the director of cricket’s dilemma is whether to grant permission for the best players already on enhanced one-day contracts to stay in India at a time when two games against Ireland represent preparation for the Champions Trophy.

Players have been told to be back for a training camp in Spain on May 16 before a one-day series against South Africa, which precedes the Champions Trophy on home soil in June.

But Strauss must this week decide who can miss the games against Ireland on May 5 and 7, enabling them to play an extra two weeks in the IPL and making them much more attractive in the draft next month.

The decision will affect captain Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Alex Hales and Jason Roy, who will enter the IPL draft on February 4, with Jos Buttler and Sam Billings already under contract to Mumbai and Delhi. David Willey, Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow could join them.

It is a tricky for Strauss, who knows he could scupper IPL involvement for players he would ideally like to take part if he tells them they can only stay for a month, but equally the Ireland games are no ordinary internationals. Surely he would want England’s best team playing in home conditions just a month before the Champions Trophy.

England’s only real decision today is whether Liam Plunkett is fit enough to play after a calf injury or whether Jake Ball gets another chance to replicate his impressive one-day form in Bangladesh.