ECB to review distribution of IPL funds after counties call for reform

The ECB have said they will review the issue of counties being compensated for losing their top stars to the IPL after it was revealed that they had missed out on tens of thousands of pounds pocketed by the governing body.

Surrey’s director of cricket, Alec Stewart, called for reform to the system after counties learned last week that the ECB – like other boards affected by the tournament – have been receiving a fee equivalent to 10 per cent of a player’s IPL contract from the BCCI. With its vast salary cap increase this year, that figure is tipped to rise to 20 per cent.

“We have discovered that the ECB have been receiving 10 per cent of the overall contract a player gets from IPL for a number of years and this year it is 20 per cent,” said Stewart. “So should the ECB be keeping that? Or should it come back to the county who are the ones who miss out? It should come back to the county.”

Twelve England players are at the IPL, which brought the issue into sharp focus, although the payments have been happening for some years – although counties say they have never been told about them. They are aggrieved not just that none of the money has made it directly to them as compensation for losing players, but that the situation was not made clear. The issue is set to be a hot topic at a meeting of county chief executives on Thursday.

“It [the payments] has come as a surprise to Surrey and every county I have spoken with, and given the scale of English players now missing from the county season it is important that the ECB resolves this issue as quickly as possible,” Richard Gould, Surrey’s chief executive, told the Standard.

The ECB originally chose to share the payments equitably between all 18 first-class counties (rather than directly to those losing their contracted players), and to spend it on marketing the T20 Blast. Now, they have have accepted it is time to review the situation.

“Since 2015 ECB has ensured that any sums received centrally in relation to England qualified player participation in IPL has been re-invested in marketing the domestic programme to the benefit of all First-Class Counties,” an ECB spokesperson told the Standard.

“The ECB Board has determined that given the increasing number of players from England & Wales now participating in IPL, the time is right to review the policy and it will consider the outcomes in the context of the overall financial investment it makes to Counties going forward.”

Surrey start their season on Friday against Hampshire without Jason Roy and Tom Curran. Roy was picked up in the auction for £160,000 by Delhi Daredevils, meaning the ECB could receive as much as £32,000. Curran was a replacement for Mitchell Starc, and the figure received by the ECB is expected to be similar to Roy’s. Standard Sport understands that Kolkata Knight Riders, Curran’s franchise, agreed to pay an undisclosed compensation fee direct to Surrey, at the county’s request.

Other counties have been hit harder than Surrey: Durham’s Ben Stokes has consecutively received deals worth well over £1m, while T20 specialist Tymal Mills went to Royal Challengers Bangalore for £1.4m in 2017.

The ECB are understood to have received around £90,000 for Mills’ IPL stint. His county, Sussex, have contacted the ECB for clarification over exactly what happens to this money.

Stewart proposed a system whereby IPL players with full England contracts, like Stokes and Chris Woakes, the county receive half of the fee. For those with white-ball contracts only, like Roy, the county takes three-quarters of the fee, and for those who have no England contract at all like Curran or Mills, the county receives the full payment