With the advent of T20 leagues and them becoming a lucrative option for not centrally contracted cricketers, international teams are struggling a bit to regularly field their top players regularly. England are the latest to be hit by the trend with the likes of Alex Hales, Sam Billings and David Willey making themselves unavailable for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh to fulfil commitments elsewhere.
England limited-overs captain Jos Buttler admits there’s some frustration because it has been impacting their preparations for the ODI World Cup set to be played later this year. The scheduling of T20 leagues and international matches at the same time means players without central contracts are being forced to make choices.
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Few years back, players prioritising leagues over country would end up paying by losing their spots in the national squad but Buttler says it’s not the case anymore owing to multiple reasons.
“It’s quite a unique situation,” Buttler was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “It’s the time we are in. The way the games are scheduled, I can sort of understand it both ways. As an England captain, on one side you wish that everyone would see playing for England as the main thing and grab any opportunity available.”
He added, “But there are bigger things in play as well. The discrepancy between what people can earn playing for England and not playing for England is quite large, so that’s a factor that must be considered. For each individual that will be a different decision made at different times of their careers.”
England have named the uncapped duo of Rehan Ahmed and and Tom Abell in their white-ball squad for the Bangladesh tour. As per ESPNcricinfo, the defending ODI world champions have used 37 players across 33 ODIs since their title win in 2019.
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“In this day and age, you’ve got to try to work with it as best you can and if people make themselves unavailable, they know they’re giving someone else a chance. But I certainly don’t want to be in a position where you rule people out and say they’ll never play for England again, or anything like that,” Buttler said.
Questions are being raised on England’s preparations after yet another ODI series defeat, this time against South Africa.
In an ideal scenario, England would want all their top players available for selection but considering the packed schedule of the coming months that include IPL and Ashes series at home, that might not be the case for some time.
“Wherever people are playing, we want to pick our best available team, especially for World Cups and big ICC events, so we are open minded. It’s quite complicated, and there are some frustrations at certain points but I completely understand people’s positions and it’s an individual decision at the end of the day,” Buttler said.
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