LONDON, (Reuters) – England’s cricket board must stop treating its players in a “namby-pamby way” and dock money if they put India’s lucrative Premier League (IPL) above national duty, says a former batsman the Geoffrey Boycott test.
Head coach Chris Silverwood has said that English players would miss the start of the test series against New Zealand in June if their IPL teams reach the final of the Twenty20 competition.
England will also stick to their rotation policy with the goal of helping their multi-format players cope better with life in biosafety bubbles, Silverwood said after losing the team’s 3-1 test series in India.
“England made a mess with rotation policy in India and must stop treating players in a namby-pamby way,” Boycott wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
“Players seem to forget that the IPL wouldn’t come calling for them if they hadn’t performed for England first. So they owe a debt of gratitude and loyalty to putting England first. ”
“I would never stop them from winning that but not by losing games for England to do it.”
The former opener said no one should distance a player who is leaving England’s biosecurity bubble over mental health issues.
“But I bet you won’t see any of our players leave the IPL because they are losing their wife, their boyfriend or their children.”
The 80-year-old said the England and Wales Cricket Board had been “too soft” and recommended sanctions for any “fit and healthy player” available for national duty.
“If players want to go home for a break from English duty, dock their money. Better still don’t choose them unless they can agree to be available for a whole series. ”
Boycott Silverwood, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, cricket director Ashley Giles and chairman of selectmen Ed Smith described him as “our unwise men”.
“It’s a barmy way to run English cricket, they should all be ashamed and embarrassed,” he added.