England players ruled out of IPL for next two seasons

LONDON (Reuters) - England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke ruled out on Monday the possibility of any centrally contracted player taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for at least the next two seasons.

"I don't see it, no," Clarke told reporters at the official launch of the English domestic season at Lord's. "I can't see (coach) Peter Moores determining he wishes to release them for it."

The IPL Twenty20 competition opening on April 18 has been approved by domestic boards, including the ECB, and attracted an array of the world's leading players.

However, only one English player, Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas who does not have a central contract with the ECB, will play in this year's inaugural series.

England are scheduled to tour West Indies next year before hosting an Ashes series against Australia.

"We are about to play Australia," he said. "Just what would you gentlemen want if Peter Moores released an England player to play in the IPL and he then got injured and he couldn't play all summer?"

Last week England's leading batsman Kevin Pietersen told The Times newspaper it was ridiculous that centrally contracted England players were the only international cricketers who could not take part in the IPL.

"You want your best players playing both for their country and for the IPL. You don't want them choosing between the two. It's silly to think that you're losing up to a million (dollars) over six weeks," Pietersen said.

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In response, Clarke said employers and players were expected to honour their contracts.

"Australia will be a significant challenge and we need to have the best possible people," he said. "It is not as if Kevin Pietersen does not receive not insignificant rewards for being the player he is and the amount he gets paid.

"If they turn up exhausted after flying around India and playing a whole lot of IPL games they are not necessarily going to be in a position to help their fellow players."

Mascarenhas, who hit five sixes in an over off India bowler Yuvraj Singh in a one-day international at the Oval last year, was a late recruit to the IPL after an invitation from former Hampshire colleague Shane Warne to join the Jaipur franchise.

"All the other countries have players who are still playing for their countries so I can't see why I can't. I'm not missing any one-day internationals for England," he told reporters on Monday.