st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#ieooui) } Barely a one-day match goes by without there being talk of whether or not a player has blown his chance of inclusion in the team to face Sir Allen Stanford’s super-star team in the West Indies in November. With £10m on the table for the winning side, there are undoubtedly going to be some disappointed players who for whatever reason don’t make it to Antigua.

Centrally-contacted English cricketers were stopped from playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League in May by the ECB, so they could fulfil their international obligations while some of their foreign counterparts were commanding six-figure salaries for the six-week tournament. The ECB have now said they won’t stop English players from playing in the IPL, but I get the feeling that if Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and Co do head off to India they could face sanctions in relation to their international careers, which wouldn’t be good for England or the players.

Is the deal with Stanford a sell-out? In a way it is. If England win the match, all the players will earn a six-figure salary for the one-off game, which will be significantly higher than some of the earnings available from the IPL, although Pietersen is rumoured to have been offered over £1.5m to play in the second IPL tournament next year. With the Ashes and Twenty20 world championship coming up next year, England will be looking to control what their top players do to ensure they are physically fit and mentally ready for the demands of a Twenty20 game in Antigua. Signing up for the Stanford millions means they can offer an alternative to playing in the IPL for some players, and hopefully prevent many from going.

If I’m honest, the ECB would have been fools to turn down the offer as South Africa and other nations had before them. It might be a meaningless match in terms of its international status against a band of all-stars, but the money that it brings in all is what makes all the difference here. England players should, however, be allowed to play in the IPL if they wish. By not allowing them to play, they are restricting their potential to earn money, and that could lead to court cases and further bad publicity for the ECB.

The IPL isn’t going to go away, and if some of the current England international players want to play in it, then the England team selectors will have to replace them with the best available that aren’t in India – it’s as simple as that. The game against Stanford’s All-Stars will go some way to appeasing the players and might change some minds on whether it’s better to give the IPL a miss in future.

The IPL was one of the most successful cricket tournaments in recent times, and who wouldn’t want to be involved in the whole circus around it? It’s a break from playing county and international cricket with England, a change of scene and playing with some of the world’s best in limited-overs games will do them some good.