Ashes Preperations could be Disrupted

Dave Kidd has reported in today's People Newspaper, that the ECB's preparation plans for next summer's Ashes series could be thrown into turmoil due to England players refusing to sign their central contracts.

Apparently the England players elected not to sign the contracts until after the Stanford match (and we all know how that went). The England players feel miffed that they lost their £650,000 per man match and subsequently came away from the West Indies with nothing.

The centrally-contracted players feel that they are missing out on some big money that is on offer from the IPL (Indian Premier League). Of course the ECB did try and replace the lure of the IPL with the Stanford match, however, as was proven; if a team loses that one-off match the players walk away with nothing, compared with the guaranteed income/wages on offer from IPL franchises.

The ECB have only made the contracted players available to the IPL for twelve days next spring.

That decision by the ECB has led IPL franchise owners to insist that they will not be employing any centrally-contracted England players next season.

This in house fighting could seriously disrupt the England teams preparations for next summer's ashes series. Let's hope the players and the ECB can sort something out and reach an agreement.

The Ashes 2009 better than Cash

Ian Bell insists reclaiming the Ashes next summer means more than becoming one of England's million dollar men. Bell stands to win £570,000 if England win the winner takes all match on 1 November 2008 against the Stanford Superstars in Antigua.

However, Bell is adamant that a repeat of 2005's Ashes triumph when the Australians visit next summer would have far greater meaning than any cash windfall in the Caribbean. Bell knows exactly what it means to win the ashes as he was an ever present during the 2005 series.

"It's really exciting to be given the chance to win this money but, as a team, we'd much prefer to win the Ashes next year," Bell said. "That might sound silly because the amount is so big but the Ashes is the bigger picture for us". Just to put that into perspective; the $1 million per man on offer for the winner of the Stanford match is the biggest team prize in the history of sport!

"The rewards for winning an Ashes series are not just financial. I know winning the Ashes in England is the best time you can have as a cricketer. Everyone remembers it for a long time - a lot longer than winning some money."

Bell also added: “There’s already momentum building under Kevin Pietersen’s captaincy. By the time we reach The Ashes, we’ll have a good idea of how good the team is.”

Bell could be right as Kevin Pietersen does seem to have the Midas touch, the massive turn around during the series against South Africa after he took over as captain; winning the final test and all of the one day games bar one (which didn't take place due to bad weather) against the number two one day team in the world proves that!