The ECB may have a bitter IPL to swallow
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 : Twenty20
When the ECB suspended bilateral arrangements with Zimbabwe and cancelled their 2009 tour, they were desperate to fill the TV schedules with some alternative cricket. In deciding to ask Sri Lankan players already contracted to the IPL, to act as replacements, the ECB have highlighted their very real difficulty in fulfilling TV commitments for April and May in the seasons to come.
The Sri Lankan players cannot be criticised for wanting to honour their IPL contracts, signed before they were expected to go to England. The Sri Lankan government cannot be criticised for allowing them to do so. Perhaps the Sri Lankan authorities could be criticised for signing away part of the year to the IPL. However, maybe they are just being realistic. The IPL is the biggest cricketing tournament on the planet. It is not going to go away and the power base of the BCCI with support from Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa will dominate world cricket over the next few years.
The ECB have a problem. They may need to realise that for the early part of their summer (April/May) they may not be able to provide international cricket to the TV companies because of the pull on players by the IPL. The ECB have signed up to provide international cricket to Sky until 2013. Presumably this means 7 home Test matches and a number of ODIs. This will be spectacularly tricky without 2 Tests in April/May.
The ECB are not the only ones for whom the IPL is posing a problem. Australia are supposed to be playing a Twenty20 and some ODIs in Pakistan during the time of the IPL tournament. Will it be an 'A' tour or will 'Security' issues cause a postponement.
If England win the Stanford Super Series and each player earns £500,000, will this affect England player availability for the IPL. Have the ECB done deals with the players that will attempt to replace IPL money. Is the Stanford Quadrangular tournament designed to be part of this process?
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