English county side Nottinghamshire have defied the wishes of some of their England internationals by banning them from playing in the Indian Premier League, the club said on Friday. The new IPL season begins on April 3 and Notts players Alex Hales, Michael Lumb and Samit Patel are all reported to have attracted interest from teams competing in the lucrative competition.
However, Notts are due to start their County Championship campaign just seven days later and the club's director of cricket, Mick Newell, says the players must make themselves available for domestic duty. "We were very clear that we expected all of our players to be available to us as we would be severely weakened if we were to lose them for that period of time at that stage of the season," Newell said in a statement.
"The players asked me to consider releasing them to enable them to take part in the IPL, but they are key members of the squad and I explained that we wouldn't be able to allow them to take part." Despite his stance, Newell said that Notts' other England players, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, will be allowed to play in the IPL because their contacts are managed centrally by the England and Wales Cricket Board.