Ben Stokes won’t allow the Indian Premier League to get in the way of his England captaincy, insisting he will be leading the team in the first Test of their Ashes summer.
Stokes opted out of the IPL auction in 2022 as he prioritised getting to grips with his leadership role, but put himself back under the hammer in December and landed a bumper PS1.63million ($A2.89 million) deal with Chennai Super Kings.
The group stages of the world’s biggest T20 tournament run all the way to May 28, with the eliminator match and final to follow, while England take on Ireland at Lord’s from June 1 in their final outing before the eagerly-awaited series against Australia.
The possibility for a clash in Stokes’ calendar is apparent but he has made it clear that he will be donning his England whites rather than the yellow shirt of CSK when the time comes.
He is understood to have already agreed a departure date with the franchise and will be back in time to take a full part in preparations ahead of the first international of the season.
Asked if he would be on duty at the home of cricket if there was a spot for him in the IPL final, he left no room for doubt.
“Yes, I’ll play,” he said. “I’ll be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that game.”
The picture is less clear when it comes to other players, though.
Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Harry Brook all have IPL contracts, as well as being lined up for key roles as England attempt to win back the urn for the first time since 2015.
“I think it’s a little bit too far ahead to say for others, but one thing I’ve got to look at is we’ve got the Ashes after the Ireland Test, so I’ll probably get round the individuals and ask them what they want to be ready for the Ashes,” said Stokes.
“Those five games are obviously the big ones of the summer and you’ve got to think about what lads want, but you also have to think about if something was to happen in that game and we lose someone for the Ashes.
“It’s just one of those where you have to weigh up the options of what the individual person actually wants out of that week versus do we really need to play that one? Because I’m obviously right in saying that series is bigger than that game against Ireland.”
For now, though, the biggest game at hand is Friday’s series-settling second Test against New Zealand in Wellington and a chance to make it 11 wins in 12 attempts as skipper.
England have yet to settle on their XI, with their preference for going in unchanged after their 267-run win at Mount Maunganui challenged by some aches and pains in the seam attack of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Ollie Robinson.
Durham’s Matthew Potts would be the favourite to step up if a change was required, with Olly Stone also on hand.
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