"A COP OUT!" - Should Centrally Contracted England Players MISS Test Matches To PLAY In The IPL?!

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]So, Jofra Archer has got a central contract and Jofra Archer is not in a position to play the first test match because essentially he's not bowled enough red ball cricket and he needs to get his body up to the levels needed.

[00:00:12]So, Rob Key was asked about this. Um you know, whether it's a sense of frustration essentially. Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain talked about it on Sky Sports during the rain delay at the second ODI women's ODI.

[00:00:24]Rob Key's take is, well, this is the way of the world.

[00:00:28]Um but it seems to be the way of the world with Jofra. Doesn't seem to be the way of the world with anybody else.

[00:00:34]>> of I've kind of been watching this issue creep up over the last few weeks. And I what I was expecting was that Jofra would be in the test the squad for the first test, but he wouldn't play. And there's a bit of a distinction there between literally just not picking him in the squad because he's at the IPL. Um and it sort of now it's happened, you sort of reflect on it and you think, well, actually I shouldn't just be shrugging and saying it's the way of the world and you know, it sort of feels like a bit of a a bit of a scandal for English cricket kind of in plain sight if if you see what I mean. I I I agree. I think it's a bit of a cop out, really.

[00:01:05]>> Yeah, it's it's a strange one and look, the the IPL Jofra is a unique case. He's had a horrendous time with injury over the last Well, yeah, since his since his first year in test cricket, which was 2019. So, 7 years he's He's got back over the last 12 12 months. The IPL has been somewhere he's always kind of gone in that time and he I think he will feel that he owes Rajasthan a lot. They Mhm. played a part in all that rehab as long with his time at Mumbai Indians as well. Equally, England have put a hell of a lot of into him at that in that time.

[00:01:38]Um and you just wonder whether when you've only got six home tests a summer, England play they play about 12 tests a year. He has a central contract. You sort of feel when he is fit after all of that mess, when he when with the injuries, when he's fit he probably should be available for all of them.

[00:01:53]England are being pragmatic, by the way.

[00:01:55]They're not They're just England are trying not to fight a battle they'll lose.

[00:01:59]>> Yeah. And they're also trying not to they're not being stupid. You know, Jofra Archer, you can bring him back from the IPL a couple of days before the test and he can walk out of Lords and play the game.

[00:02:10]It's not ideal.

[00:02:11]>> Some would say that he that I mean, we've we've just listened for the last 10 years and been told that you can't do that. Yeah, it's not ideal from a performance point of view, but it's fine physically. It's fine physically.

[00:02:22]>> Remember the Kiwi Yeah, I mean, it's it's commonplace. But It's it's it's fine Yeah, it's fine in terms of >> It's going to happen.

[00:02:29]>> to But it it's he's not going to get an injury because of it. Whereas Archer No, there's a there's a physical there's a physical side. I would also say that Archer's >> I mean, Riyan Parag as well is possibly going to do the same thing. I would say there's a the physical side is that if with Archer's history, if you play him in a test straight away and he gets injured, you don't get him for the full six tests anyway. Yeah.

[00:02:51]>> So, I would have thought anyway, it might be worth them just saying, "You tell us when you're ready and we'll start picking you." So, if he misses the first test and plays the next five, I'm fine. Chances are Jofra Archer isn't playing all six tests in a summer anyway. So, I I I don't think I have a big problem there. I think the bigger issue is the one that we're seeing we've got this split in Australian cricket at the moment over privatizing the Big Bash. Sorry if that's one of your segments for later, but >> No, no, it isn't, but I was actually talking about players who've had injury and Pat Cummins, of course, missed a lot of cricket.

[00:03:23]>> Yeah. But he's always managed to balance the requirements of Australia so they fit ahead of his the requirements for whatever IPL team is playing for, but of course, the summer test in the same way.

[00:03:33]>> watch the you watch the IPL at the moment, um Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood are not fit. They're not fully fit. And those are two very important players for their national team. I don't even like Mumbai's second last.

[00:03:46]Bumrah keeps playing and all he does is bowl no balls at the moment. He can't take a wicket. He looks absolutely All he I mean, they've used up they've got they've they've taken the speed cameras up to sky levels, right? And still he's not quick.

[00:03:57]Like have you seen some of the interviews with Rabada he's looking back at the speed camera going, "Are you guys sure this is right?" [laughter] And so and Boomer still looks down on pace, right? And Hazelwood at times he's, you know, he's he can be a bit of a Meccano man, can't he? You know, one stage I think one of his arms fell off as he came in like you know, these guys are pushing themselves to the IPL in a way that they weren't a couple of years ago. Couple of years ago I was like, "Well, I'm in the squad now. I'll play a couple of games and then I'll They are now playing for the IPL in the way that you used to play internationally, which is sometimes you just have to play hurt. Sometimes you just have to push yourself through it and everything else.

[00:04:29]And so I think that dichotomy has changed a little bit, but let's not let's be honest. We're in a position now where English and Australian cricket has to be very clear that they are not the people who are going to pay the most money, right? If the IPL wanted to tomorrow, they could change the salaries forever and English cricket and Australian cricket would never be able to catch up again. Privatization or not, it just wouldn't be able to IPL players are underpaid, right? In terms Massively. I think they get Do they get >> 28% of the revenue.

[00:04:55]>> it's less than that. I think it's 22%.

[00:04:57]Yeah, so it's in the 20s and Before it should be mentioned there are a few players who get paid in other ways outside of the salary cap.

[00:05:04]>> Of course, but if you look at the Premier League, I think they I think something like 70% of the money made goes to player wages. Mostly American sports are like that.

[00:05:11]>> the same and the IPL is about 25% so It's got room to move.

[00:05:16]>> Oh, I mean the amount of money that they could pay these players as as I said, there is lots of money that flows outside the salary cap. There's the Mumbai Indians a couple of years ago had one of their star players suddenly go down to a low salary and you know, I messaged around and everyone was like, "Yeah, cuz he's been told he's sorted, right?" Like there's always sponsorship deals that come in. So the salary cap isn't everything, but you know, if you're a player you want the guaranteed money. You want the the money that that is legit that you can see coming in and everything else.

[00:05:44]When that gets to the 50% of the IPL, that's it. It's over for everyone else.

[00:05:49]Even if it gets to 30%, right? We're talking about Cricket Australia having to find three or four million dollars to play to to pay Mitchell Starc and and Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to keep them around for a couple more years. The next generation is going to be it's going to be five million, it's going to be 10 million, right? Like the some of these um IPL players should probably like Bumrah should already be on about 20 million dollars a year, right?

[00:06:11]Once we get to that, no cricket balls are ever going to be able to do it. So, what is happening to Jofra Archer in English cricket has already happened to every other country in the world. I have a couple of points on this. One is that um we've kind of come to accept that a central contract is 10 months of the year and that the two months the two months of the IPL are It's like paying council tax.

[00:06:30]>> However, yeah, yeah. However, it's actually quietly got more extreme because it actually nine months of a year because you got your two months of the IPL and the one month of the 100 where they lose England now hand over control of their players. Harry Brook Brook is being paid 470 grand to play for Sunrisers Leeds this summer.

[00:06:47]Archer's also in the 400,000s. So, they if if England last year England pulled Archer out I think of the last game for Southern Brave if I remember correctly and it was a bit of a I think it was a bit of a row about this behind the scenes.

[00:07:01]Um but England wanted him to be right because they had the Ashes coming up and you know, lots of things on their mind um and they thought Southern Brave were out of the reckoning. Can you just not play? He He ended up not playing. But there was a row. Does that mean he doesn't get paid? Uh possibly, but I think, you know, he'll be all right on that.

[00:07:20]>> Well, no, I know, but if he if he gets paid anyway >> Yeah, I think I think it was pro rata last year and it's not. But this But the put my point is this year I don't think they're going to have the control to the power to do that. They're not going to be able to go to Well, uh Southern Brave are owned by GMR Delhi Capitals. If they they're not going to have the power to go to them and say he can't play. They will say, "We're paying him 400 grand for this tournament. He's playing." And, you know, I would probably feel the same way if I was paying someone 400 grand.

[00:07:45]The second point about um England's relationship with the IPL is that we're kind of It's been a long journey for England with the IPL. We start KP's been talking a lot lately. He obviously was the kind of trailblazer.

[00:07:56]How many years now?

[00:07:58]15?

[00:07:58]>> 17?

[00:07:59]>> Yeah, yeah, probably 17. Say Say 2009 was probably the first year. Yeah, it's a long time. And then But then you had the era, ironically under Andrew Strauss as director of cricket, who was very skeptical about the IPL as a player, but then basically encouraged all these guys. Jos Buttler, Sam Billings even used to go and lose money to play in the IPL, because his his fee was so low, but it was seen as a really important part of gaining experience in white-ball cricket, all that kind of stuff. We're actually the curve is coming back round again now, because if you look at England's big, big players, who are England's biggest players? Well, you got Stokes, Root. They're not putting themselves in for IPL anymore. Harry Brook is banned.

[00:08:34]Ben Duckett is banned. He's an all-format player. But But banned because they took themselves out.

[00:08:38]>> taken themselves out, but that's because they're paid so well by England and they don't think Yeah, Ben Duckett, his deal was worth probably Let's Let's say it was quarter of a million quid for IPL this year, but he earns the same amount in the 100 and he has a massive England contract. So, he didn't feel that money is no longer life-changing to England's cricketers at the moment. The change will come at some stage, as Jared says, when it when that money rises, but um and then So, the last two I would say who are really important to England in all formats are Jacob Bethell and Jofra Archer, and they're the two at the IPL.

[00:09:08]They're the only two. Buttler, Salt, you know, they can go to the IPL with white-ball specialists. Jamie Overton, he actually turned back He turned his back on England's Test team >> Test team essentially to prioritize Yeah, to to to play white-ball cricket and he's got the IPL deals to He's very played fantastic this year, so he made He made a great decision.

[00:09:26]>> Yeah, no judgment.

[00:09:27]>> He's probably He's probably sorted the next two or three years of his life, right?

[00:09:30]>> I I I mentioned Jofra Archer, and I Jofra Archer is very often a lightning rod, in the same way that Kevin Pietersen was lightning rod.

[00:09:36]But there are players like Jamie Overton. If Jofra Archer had done this no criticism, but it's just the way the narrative and the media works. But if Jofra Archer had made what >> Had decision Made the same decision as Jamie Overton correct as it is and it's personal choice.

[00:09:51]The narrative surrounding that choice would have been very different to the one that has been surrounded >> Well, Liam Dawson's made some choices over the years, hasn't he?

[00:09:59]>> Made one yesterday. Yeah. Well, he he's made a very recent choice.

[00:10:02]>> Yeah. But but he's made choices where they said like come on this squad and you could be the backup spinner. He's like no, no, no, I'm going to go play in a T20. I I don't remember there being a lot of flack for that either. Like there's been a lot of people who've made that decision. It it look it's a it's a fascinating new world plays and now starting to think about um the multitude of leagues as well. How many leagues they can play in, you know, that you've got ownership groups who are saying to you know, we know that Jofra and Cummins had these sorts of deals where they were like we want you for all, you know, potential tournaments in the future.

[00:10:34]We're not quite at the point now where the ownership groups of the IPL franchises are making sure that you have batting coaches and people to bowl to you and through downs and everything.

[00:10:43]But once we get to that and you go back to, you know, Sydney or you know, Leeds or wherever and you've got a full setup around you.

[00:10:50]You don't actually need your local cricket and your international cricket as much anymore. It it will just slowly start to seep away.

[00:10:58]>> The the the talk of kind of year-round deals um well yeah, you look at Mumbai Indians and their purchase of the the Oval hundred team.

[00:11:08]MI London now. They've got Nicholas Pooran, Will Jacks, Sam Curran and Rashid Khan all of whom play for them in other leagues or have done or have played for them in other leagues. So it at the moment it exists unofficially, but we're just waiting for that moment where say a Cummins gets the proper offer from the Sunrisers group to be their cricketer in all year round in every league. It will come. Well, >> What's are we waiting for? Because >> of things. So, you have firstly, you still got auctions and drafts and different things in those leagues. Um but the remember now, the most powerful people are the owners. Yeah. And then the second one is it is actually an organizational uh you know, battlefield for the the these IPL teams as professionals are still kind of startup kind of organizations. And they're also they've got this they've got this big event that they plan for and then they've got these tiny little events that look at. They they need to become a 12-month entity, right? So, I've talked to some of the players who've been talked to about these kinds of things and they're like, "Yeah, but you need to make sure that I have all my physio bills are paid in you know, Auckland or you know, that I that I have someone to bowl to that you know, that >> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:12:15]>> Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense because it makes more sense for someone to actually be there be playing for you know, a target cricket so that they still have access to the nets and everything else. So, it is actually far more complicated. I don't know if you guys have seen there has been a move in the last maybe four to five years of golden visas um in UAE.

[00:12:35]>> UAE, yeah. And I think that from what I've heard, a lot of the IPL owners are suggesting to these players as we can we can rent the facilities in Dubai. There's always net bowlers in Dubai. They don't really work for UAE cricket. They're all desperate. We can pay them to be full-time yearly net bowlers. Um you know, all these sorts of things are available. There's great sports science and stuff over there in the >> lot of English cricketers live in Dubai now. I mean, James Vince it was quite well publicized but that's partly because of what happened to his home in in Hampshire but you know, I think Chris Jordan's living over there. Adam Zampa, there's a few there's a few Moeen Ali's there as well.

[00:13:07]>> Yeah, Moeen Ali there's a few Australian cricketers there now, too. Um so, I wouldn't be surprised if we have like a secondary hub. A lot of those guys don't want to live in India but Dubai is like the second option of that.

[00:13:18]Now, Dubai may not be the most uh maybe in the next three years who knows what happens with the war and everything and that might happen but I I think that if I was some of these, you know, some of the bigger franchises like Mumbai, I think they would just say, "Why don't we just build a center there? There's all this land available to us."

[00:13:35]>> are probably there. Are they? Well, yeah, but you still have to share them and it's There's enough nets, I would have thought, just in around the around the ICC buildings. Cuz you I don't know if you guys know, but the ICC don't own any of that. They rent it themselves. It's run by an independent company. So, there's no reason you can't just add an extra And it's a massive facility. You can put nets everywhere.