Ipl’s South Africa Move To Cost England Players
A decision has been made to move the Indian Premier League to South Africa and push back the start date meaning that England players will only be able to play in the lucrative tournament for two weeks instead of three and consequently take a substantial decrease in pay.
After much discussion around concerns of security, IPL chairman Lalit Modi announced the official decision to relocate it to South Africa, following a quick tour of alternative locations including England.
However with the move to South Africa and the start date pushed back to 18th April, England players such as Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen will only be able to participate in the first two weeks of the tournament, as opposed to the originally agreed-upon three, before returning home to play in a Test series against the West Indies.
This schedule change will see the players’ earning cut down with Flintoff and Pietersen standing to lose the most, after going for a record-breaking $1.55m (£1.05m) at the IPL auction last month. Combined, they now could lose £150,000 of that original sum given that the contracts are split up on a pay as you play basis.
Additionally, the decision will also cost the players’ counties, with in Pietersen and Flintoff’s case, Hampshire and Lancashire due to receive 10% of their IPL earnings.
England had been an initial favourite to host the IPL, however, concerns over weather and possible hefty tax demands prompted the IPL organisers to look toward South Africa.
Additionally, the Test series between England and West Indies presented scheduling issues while the lack of floodlights at many of the county grounds undermined the IPL’s desire to schedule the games to fit in with Indian timezones to make viewing more accessible for fans in the sub-continent.
Although the recent decision to move the IPL has meant that England players will take a costly hit, ECB chief executive David Collier admitted that South Africa was a practical choice in the timescale available.
