ECB tells England players to forget Indian Premier League
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008Kevin Pietersen and other leading England players face potential collision with the ECB over their desire to cash in on the riches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year after Giles Clarke, the board chairman, said that participation would be a risk too far before the 2009 Ashes.
Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, accused Clarke of behaving like King Canute in his hardline stance against the competition, reiterated yesterday at the official launch of the new season, which begins at Lord’s on Thursday. The inaugural IPL starts eight days later.
Speaking in The Times on Saturday, Pietersen described as “ridiculous” the fact that England-contracted players will not be involved and others have approached Morris to find out more about the tournament. But they will be unable to participate unless they are given a No Objection Certificate from the ECB.