Ben Duckett pulls out of £200,000 IPL deal in bid to save England Test spot

  • England opener now faces three-year ban from IPL

  • ‘My journey into Test team has come from county cricket’

Ben Duckett has pulled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League and now faces a three-year ban from the tournament after deciding he needs county cricket to shore up his place in England’s Test team.

The opener was signed by Delhi Capitals at the IPL auction in December in a deal worth £200,000 and, with the competition starting on Saturday, he was due to miss the first two months of the English season.

Continue reading...

ECB has taken a risk keeping McCullum and Key – who must now placate the public | Ali Martin

Anger remains after England’s heavy Ashes defeat and whatever happens next is on the ECB’s chiefs

Having endorsed Brendon McCullum’s continuation as men’s head coach after an Ashes defeat riddled with self‑owns and kept Rob Key above him as team director, the England and Wales Cricket Board could in one sense be viewed as having taken the path of least resistance.

McCullum’s contract runs to the end of 2027 and it would cost a pretty penny to cut him loose. The players enjoy the pair’s methods and tend to call the shots in the modern era. There may not be an all-format candidate for head coach out there. Besides, look over there: the Hundred returns in July, ready to overload your eyeballs with multicoloured content.

Continue reading...