Allow English players to participate in the IPL: Andrew Strauss

Strauss in action for England

Ex-England skipper Andrew Strauss has stated that England will under-perform in the T20 format if their players are not given permission to participate in the IPL, ESPNCricinfo reports.

In his new autobiography, Driving Ambition, Strauss states that English players are stumped when they participate in T20 games due to their packed international schedule, which leaves them no time to participate in the IPL or in their countries domestic leagues.

The ECB and Professional Cricketers Association are looking to resolve the issue of English players not being able to play in the IPL.

The former opening batsman wrote: “Going to India, surrounding yourself with the best players in the world and learning how to innovate and adapt in vastly different conditions must surely be of huge benefit to players (not to mention the obvious benefits to their bank accounts).

“Unfortunately, the IPL teams are reluctant to select England players, knowing that they will not be available for the whole tournament. In addition the ECB is less-than-keen to see its best assets wandering off to a foreign domestic tournament when they should be getting invaluable rest.

“However, if England are serious about being a force in the international game, one thing the administrators have to look at is creating a window to allow our players to participate. The IPL is not going anywhere and we run the risk of slipping behind other teams in both ODI and Twenty20 cricket if our players don’t participate.”

The 36-year-old recently declined to contest for the position of managing director of England cricket. Strauss prefers to focus on his consultancy business and is hungry for a change in his countries game.

“New players coming into the England side in recent years have generally had a reasonable level of experience in the Twenty20 game and have managed to expand their games accordingly.

“What remains a problem, though, is that players who are already part of the England set-up do not play a lot of domestic Twenty20 cricket, so ironically their skills do not continue to develop as much as might be the case. For me, that makes the opportunity for England players to compete in the IPL a really important issue.”

The Three Lions have postponed their 2014 games against Sri Lanka as the players from the two countries want to play in the IPL.

The IPL also left a bad taste in Strauss’s mouth when he became involved in a controversy between the ECB and Kevin Petersen during the 2012 series against South Africa. The ECB criticized Petersen for giving more importance to the IPL than his country. Petersen’s relationship with the ECB never fully healed after the argument.

Strauss thinks that English Test cricket is a top priority: “The ECB were unwilling – rightly in my opinion – to let any player either miss or not be properly prepared to play in a Test match to fulfil IPL obligations.”

Strauss has stated that upcoming players should be pressed into service in Englad’s Test squad in order to give them the edge over opponents.

“In England, we should have an advantage over other countries because of our long-established domestic structure,” he says. “What is desperately needed, in my opinion, is for that structure to move with the times.

“Administrators need to ask themselves, ‘What is the best system for producing excellent England cricketers?’ As that is where all the revenues for the game come from, rather than ‘What is in the best interests of county members?’ Looking at it from that standpoint would result in a very different domestic structure from the one we currently employ.