'England players will have to reject central contracts if they want long stay at IPL'

England cricketers hoping for an invite to next season's Indian Premier League will have to relinquish their central contracts if they want to play a full part in it, Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England team. has revealed

England cricketers hoping for an invite to next season's Indian Premier League will have to relinquish their central contracts if they want to play a full part and take advantage of the riches on offer.

Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England team, has revealed that the England and Wales Cricket Board's Test and one-day programme would not be altered to accommodate players wanting to spend more than two weeks at the IPL.

"We will be playing Test matches in the early part of May and clearly that will have an impact on the amount of time that players may or may not go to IPL," Morris said.

"My understanding is that the International Cricket Council, IPL and the ECB have made it very clear from the word go that international cricket takes precedence over domestic tournaments and I think that will be the case. That's the very clear message we get from ICC. I understand that is what IPL think as well."

The ECB added the May Tests to their programme in 2000, a move that boosted the value of their TV deal, currently with Sky. The broadcaster also paid £330 million for the new four-year deal that begins after next year's Ashes. To cancel those two Tests, ECB would have to pay £5 million per match compensation to Sky while also losing out on the £10-15 million that each match generates, a potentially ruinous chunk for a middle-sized company.

Players and their agents have their eyes on the money, more so now after England's Stanford bonanza morphed into The Weakest Link. This year's central contracts with the ECB are still to be signed, but if there is an impasse between players and Board, only agents with brazen self-interest are promoting one.

"I think we've made it very clear that we are very happy for the players to have a window of opportunity for the players to play in the IPL," said Morris. "Last year at the IPL, the Australians were only there for 25 per cent of the time because they had a Test series in the West Indies."

To play in the IPL, players need No Objection Certificates from their respective boards. Mindful of the hectic international itinerary, ECB had said they would leave the decision over them to the coach Peter Moores. But with the Board keen to get India's elite players over for their own Twenty20 League in 2010, deciding which of England's players can and cannot go has passed to executive level, with Morris, David Collier and Giles Clarke all able to overrule Moores recommendations.

"Peter makes a recommendation to me and that goes to the board," said Morris. "Ultimately any decision can be over-ruled by the board – that is just the corporate organisation. But we are having to monitor workloads closely on a regular basis with all the cricket going on."

With National Selector, Geoff Miller, returning home after Indore, Morris is the senior management figure on tour. He does not have a say in selection though, something England need to ponder carefully after losing their third one-day match in succession.

England's performance, while ultimately frustrated by bad light in Kanpur, was still below par. Paul Collingwood, James Anderson and Matt Prior all look bereft of confidence. You cannot carry three players against moderate opponents, let alone a superb Indian side, and one about to get stronger with the addition of Sachin Tendulkar for the final four games.

Normally a banker in one-day cricket with his batting, bowling and fielding, Collingwood has barely contributed since England reconvened for the winter. In eight innings this winter he has scored just 71 runs, while his bowling (nine overs in three games) seems to have been ignored completely by his captain Kevin Pietersen. India one-day policy has been to blood youngsters, something England could do by given Luke Wright a game in Bangalore on Sunday.

Anderson has also struggled. Watching him play his 100th one-day international in Kanpur (the last 43 consecutively), was not suggestive of a man with that kind of experience. Picked primarily to swing the new ball and take early wickets, he has leaked runs instead, conceding 120 runs from his 20 overs in the series so far without taking a wicket.

But what can England do? Steve Harmison has gone for even more runs an over than Anderson in this series, though he is taking wickets. Unless Ryan Sidebottom is over his back strain, it is stick with Jimmy or twist with Harmy.

Prior should be retained, for the moment. James Foster should be England's one-day wicket-keeper but was overlooked because Prior was slated as the power-hitter at the top of the order. Now he has dropped down to number eight and Ravi Bopara has come up to open with Ian Bell, there is nothing to keep Foster, easily the best glove-man and a resourceful batsman to boot, from gaining the spot for the one-day series on West Indies tour next January.

Team details

Possible England team: KP Pietersen, IR Bell, RS Bopara, PD Collingwood, A Flintoff, OA Shah, SR Patel, MJ Prior, GP Swann, SCJ Broad, SJ Harmison.

Possible India team: MS Dhoni, V Sehwag, G Gambhir, S Raina, S Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Z Khan, M Patel.