Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) should use its power and say ‘goodbye’ to players who choose franchise cricket over International cricket.
Vaughan was reacting to a react comment made by England director of cricket Ashley Giles, who had said that England might lose a lot of players if they don’t allow them to play in the IPL.
The former England captain reckoned that the ECB is being paranoid and that it should outrightly reject players who choose franchise cricket over international cricket.
“England are being paranoid if they think their players will turn down a central contract to play in the IPL. Ashley Giles told my show on the BBC this week that England do not want to go ‘toe-to-toe’ with players over the IPL because in the long run ‘we may face losing some of our best players’,” wrote Michael Vaughan in his coloumn for the Daily Telegraph.
“I think that is a wrong message to be sending. If an England player came to me aged 26 or 27 and said he was choosing the IPL and franchise cricket over an England deal my response would be simple, ‘Go on then, see you later, goodbye, but I tell you what, I bet you come knocking back on my door in a year or two’s time’,” he added.
Vaughan also suggested roadblocks by stating that the ECB should extend central contracts of players like Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes by a few more years.
“If England really want to make sure it does not happen then why not offer their best players two or three year central contracts? High-level sport is about looking after the best individuals so give Ben Stokes or Jofra Archer more than a one-year contract. That way you are tying them down. Instead they have 12-month deals,” said Michael Vaughan.
Michael Vaughan further added that if we get to a stage where a player start turning down a central contract for a franchise then cricket will go down the football way where franchise game is way more popular than International bilaterals.
“If we reach the stage where a player turns down a central contract for a franchise then cricket will be going the same way as football. It will be the moment when we say goodbye to international cricket as it is now,” said Michael Vaughan.
“The Premier League is a better product than international football, other than World Cups and European Championships. You get the feeling in football players try to pull out of friendlies and the fans feel like they are missing out when international weeks are on because the Premier League is on hold. Cricket is not there yet but it could happen. This is why boards need to realise how powerful they are,” he added.
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