England face mass player exodus to IPL

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Half the national team would consider early retirement to play in the Indian Premier League, according to the annual Professional Cricketers' Association poll of members. More... England face mass player exodus to IPL By Simon Briggs Last Updated: 1:41am BST 24/06/2008 English cricket faces the threat of multiple defections after it emerged yesterday that half the players in the national team would consider ending their international careers prematurely to play in the Indian Premier League. As part of their annual poll of members, the Professional Cricketers' Association surveyed 16 players currently involved in the England set-up. Eight indicated their readiness to put the IPL's six-figure salaries before their country - a finding that PCA chairman Dougie Brown described yesterday as "extremely worrying". How's that? ECB chairman Giles Clarke will have his work cut out keeping England players from defecting "You can't blame the England players for thinking that way," Brown said. "We're all in the game for a short period of time, and those people who spend a lot of time travelling the globe must find the idea of the IPL very appealing. These guys will be faced with the choice of spending 300 days away a year, or going to India for six weeks, and getting paid the same if not more money. There will be a fair bit of pressure coming from the family." The significance of the IPL threat has been hard to deny since February, when tournament commissioner Lalit Modi told the Daily Telegraph that "the majority of the England players have been in contact with us". Then, in April, a preliminary PCA survey found that 35 per cent of England's international cricketers would consider swapping international cricket for the IPL. The news that half the current team would be prepared to give it all up for the Indian rupee emphasises the need for the International Cricket Council to open up a window in the international itinerary for the IPL, so the tournament does not clash with any Test or one-day international series. Survey results due to be released this week by the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations are expected to drive home the message that this is also an international problem.