It's absolutely ridiculous that Jofra Archer can miss an England Test match for the IPL -Mark Butcher

[vvvslaxman]

https://www.wisden.com/cricket-news/mark-butcher-its-absolutely-ridiculous-that-jofra-archer-can-miss-an-england-test-match-for-the-ipl

 

Mark Butcher has questioned the authority of England central contracts after it was announced that Jofra Archer would miss the first Test match of the summer against New Zealand to manage his workload following the IPL.

England announced their squad for the opening match of the series this week, with pacers Ollie Robinson and Sonny Baker earning call-ups. The bowling group will be without Archer, however, who is playing for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. The group stage of the tournament is set to end on May 24, with the final taking place on May 31 – four days before England begin their first Test match against New Zealand.

Speaking on Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher labelled the decision for Archer to miss the Test match in favour of the IPL as "absolutely ridiculous".

Butcher: There is absolutely no reason Archer shou

Archer holds a two-year central contract from the ECB, which will run until September 2027. Last year, Archer's name wasn't initially on the player list for the IPL mega-auction, as England looked to manage his workload in the build-up to the Ashes. However, after the league implemented a new rule which would ban foreign players who did not enter the mega-auction pool for the following two years, Archer put his name into the auction. He was bought by Rajasthan Royals for INR 12.5 crore.

Several England players have since incurred IPL bans for pulling out of their contracts. Harry Brook withdrew from his stint with Delhi Capitals last year, after he was named England white-ball captain. Ben Duckett pulled out of his IPL deal, also with Delhi Capitals, earlier this year, in order to play for Nottinghamshire in the early rounds of the County Championship in a bid to cement his Test match position.

'What’s the point of giving somebody a two-year contract?'
"If you put yourself in to go in the IPL and you pull out then you get a two-year ban from the IPL, that’s only a problem for Jofra Archer, that’s not a problem for England," said Butcher. "What’s the point of giving somebody a two-year contract and then allowing them to not honour that contract and play for somebody else?

"If your basic [salary], as an England contracted player before you step on the park, is upwards of half a million quid, and your selection in IPLs or whatever it might be can be extremely fickle, wouldn’t you have thought that you were better off honouring the larger chunk that you would be getting from playing for your country? Not all other countries are like this, the reason why people like Heinrich Klaasen and countless other players ditched their international sides is because they don’t get paid very well to do it, and it takes them away from home forever. But for England players, that is patently not the case.

"I find it absolutely ridiculous that you can be rested from an England Test match because you’ve been playing in the IPL. I’m sure I’m not on my own."

ldn't be playing
"It baffles me, it really does," said Butcher. "The central contracts are worth an enormous amount of money on their own, before you add in match fees, let alone someone who plays in all three formats and the rest of it. I just think there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn’t be playing.

"For managing his workload, it should be the other way around. He should be being pulled out of the IPL games, or games representing people who are not contracting him, by the people who are contracting him, rather than resting him from his main employer to go and play in a tournament overseas. I don’t get it and I don’t think I ever will... He should be in the squad and he should be playing."

 

 

[bsriharsha]

Agreed.

[vvvslaxman]

I don't think IPL bans players who are leaving for internatinoal committment.  IPL final happens on May 31st.Lords starts on June 4th.  I am sure RR is not  making the final. May be they will exit before that. So the gap is roughly about week. If he wants to play test he has to leave right now. Even then fatigue will be there. 

 

Teams usually schedule around iPL calendar. This is way too tight from both NZ and England. Both teams have some players here.

[Ultimate_Game]

This is Capitalism and Free Market at play. Noting wrong with players prioritizing their financial well being, especially for someone like Joffra Archer who's injury prone and unlikely to have a lengthy future.

[vvvslaxman]

39 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

This is Capitalism and Free Market at play. Noting wrong with players prioritizing their financial well being, especially for someone like Joffra Archer who's injury prone and unlikely to have a lengthy future.

 

ECB scheduling is poor. They know well in advance IPL is ending on a certain date. We did lose atleast 3 tests due ti IPl fatigue as well. 

[Lone Wolf]

7 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

ECB scheduling is poor. They know well in advance IPL is ending on a certain date. We did lose atleast 3 tests due ti IPl fatigue as well. 

English summer clashes with the IPl that was always an issue.

Likes of Cummins, Starc if they were English would have missed multiple IPL games as well.

Problem is Archer is not that committed to English cricket and that's fine tbh.  He has different priorities 

[vvvslaxman]

5 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

English summer clashes with the IPl that was always an issue.

Likes of Cummins, Starc if they were English would have missed multiple IPL games as well.

Problem is Archer is not that committed to English cricket and that's fine tbh.  He has different priorities 

But he has central contract with ECB. So he cannot do what he wants. ECB is a bit lenient with hi.

[Ultimate_Game]

59 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

ECB scheduling is poor. They know well in advance IPL is ending on a certain date. We did lose atleast 3 tests due ti IPl fatigue as well. 

 

And for that I blame BCCI. Scheduling WTC finals right after IPL where players go unprepared is on BCCI. Being influential, they could've pushed WTC final to a later date, and also a different venue instead of England every time.

[Gollum]

As if he is capable of making a difference. We all saw his level in the Ashes. Let him focus on the format where he is good at, what makes him happy and adds to his bank balance. T20 is a great format, and IPL is the gold standard of cricket, these experts can keep crying. 

Edited May 15 by Gollum

[Bigg Brother]

Debuted 7 years ago still played 18 tests only. Obviously this isn't his format. Him playing even full IPL season is surprising for me. The guy is in perennial injured players list.

[kosingh]

Is it ridiculous that England can use their $$$ to make a player abandon the Caribbean to play for England?

 

Why are they surprised when the same player abandons England to play in the  IPL?

 

[Zero_Unit]

It's ridiculous to think that a player, whose career is only about 10 ish years at best on avg, won't choose money (not just IPL but any other leagues) over test cricket/playing for the country. Bro if you feel angry, pay your players the missing salary, he will run and bowl for 5 days in a test match. 

[Sean Bradley]

Archer is not an Englishman and he gives hoots about English cricket.  
 

Moreover, I don’t think he has any interest in playing test cricket. England won’t miss him. 
 

if he really wanted to play, the series begins after IPL gets over, don’t know what butcher is on about.

[MechEng]

Play whatever format you would like to, I think we must move beyond judging players strictly on tests.

 

If Archer likes T20s more, then so be it.

[vvvslaxman]

 

[nevada]

Why should he leave the IPL early? To be over bowled by England and injure himself? I still can't forget how Joe Root made him bowl like a workhorse without any regard for injury risk! It looked as if he WANTED him to over bowl and get injured!

 

Archer has the right to prioritise what benefits him the most. It's not like he is abandoning military duty, it's just cricket! 

The English are big hypocrites. When Archer qualified for England and got picked for the 2019 WC, there were grumblings within the English team that he had jumped the queue, how can he be selected ahead of established cricketers etc. Now that he is earning a livelihood outside England, the cricket pundits wail like he is a soldier who went AWOL!

Edited May 20 by nevada

[LordPrabhzy]

On 5/15/2026 at 3:13 PM, vvvslaxman said:

But he has central contract with ECB. So he cannot do what he wants. ECB is a bit lenient with hi.

Exactly.. he has a central all format contract. 

 

Indegenious english players will leave IPL early or decide not to play to preserve their bodies for the Tests summer because they WANT to play for England. Archer is a West Indian mercenary who was graciously given english residency but he doesn't really care about Tests- why would he he is not English or from England. ECB needs to put clauses in that every International match a player misses due to post Franchise cricket recovery or rest cut £100K from their salary.

 

He is on £900K a year which is roughly 12Cr a year anyway- if there is no penalties why would he prioritise Eng cricket?

[Ravi_Shastri]

Ek se is ek illiterate takes here as expected 

No “he cannot do what ever he wants”. If he wanted to pick and chose he shouldn’t have signed national contract.

 

Once you sign the contract you have to be available for england when they ask you to. 
 

pretty sure most of the people commenting here have never worked a day in their life and have no clue what they are talking about. “He can do whatever he needs to take care of his finace” - ghanta. 
 

he is not a mercenary as long as he is contracted to ECB

 

all these IPL bottom lickers are the first ones to cry and bitch when India lose a test series and blame IPL 9 months a year

Edited May 20 by Ravi_Shastri

[zen]

In future most series will be scheduled around IPL anyways

 

International cricket has lost its charm. Too many ICC events could also make those marque events relatively low stakes. 

[lemsip]

On 5/17/2026 at 8:07 PM, Zero_Unit said:

It's ridiculous to think that a player, whose career is only about 10 ish years at best on avg, won't choose money (not just IPL but any other leagues) over test cricket/playing for the country. Bro if you feel angry, pay your players the missing salary, he will run and bowl for 5 days in a test match. 

The point is that he is collecting a handsome paycheck from the ECB as a contracted player yet choosing to skip commitments for his employers because he doesn't want to miss on his takings from RR. I think Butcher makes a valid point but at the end of the day, if the English team management are OK with some players making this call for a few weeks each summer, that's fair enough. Can't really blame the player for wanting to maximise his income from all available channels while he is able to command these terms. In a year or two, he won't be able to.