England Players Will Bear The Brunt Of Defeat In Ashes

England players will bear the brunt of defeat in Ashes, ECB can take a big decision on playing in IPL.

The loss of the Ashes can have an impact on the cricketers of England playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is reportedly planning to limit the participation of its cricketers in this popular franchise league.

Several England cricketers including Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, and Chris Woakes have been rested for the country’s two-Test series against NZ due to their inclusion in the IPL.

England lost the two-Test series 0-1 to the Kiwis in 2021.

A report in The Mirror on Wednesday quoted the Times as saying that the ECB is doing a thorough review of the Ashes loss.

Managing Director Ashley Giles is preparing a list of recommendations to improve Test cricket. England trail 0-3 in the five-Test Ashes series in Australia.

The visiting team lost the Brisbane, Adelaide, and MCG Tests by nine wickets, 275 runs, and by an innings and 14 runs respectively.

England’s last-wicket pair of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad managed to draw the fourth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The fifth and final Test of the series begins on January 14 at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

Reports say that the ECB is planning to limit the participation of cricketers in the IPL to ‘just the first few weeks.

The ECB is worried that the IPL will be longer from this year as two more teams have been added to the tournament, taking the number to 10.

The report said that this year it is likely that the IPL will continue when the Test matches begin in England. They are likely to face their first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s in early June.

As of now, only Butler (Rajasthan Royals) and Moeen Ali (CSK) have been retained by their respective franchises for 2022, but next month’s IPL mega auction will feature several England Test players.

The report said that the England players participating in the auction will be asked to skip some matches of the IPL so that they can play some first-class cricket before the start of the New Zealand series.