Twenty-two England players sign up for Thursday's IPL auction
Wednesday 12 February 2020 16:07, UK
Who is set to join Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Jonny Bairstow in the IPL?
Twenty-two England qualified-players have entered Thursday's auction, all hoping for a portion of the riches on offer.
But will they be taking home a life-changing sum of money or more likely sitting at home and watching on from the sofa?
Here we talk you through the England names available, listing them in a handy little XI…
Tom Banton
England's newest white-ball sensation. Or at least, he's certainly tipped to be. Banton averages 34.89 at the top of the order in domestic T20 cricket, with a staggering 156.36 strike rate and has four fifties and a hundred already to his name, aged only 21. Two further eye-catching tons came as Somerset went on to lift the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2019, enough to see him earn his first cap for England as well as secure big-money deals in the Big Bash and next year's Hundred. IPL next?
Jason Roy
Roy is close to being the first name on the team-sheet in white-ball cricket, but his IPL experiences thus far have not reflected the devastating hitter he has become on the international stage. In 2017, for Gujarat Lions, he played only three games - moved up and down the order - and then in 2018 there were glimpses for Delhi, including a magnificent, match-winning 91 not out against Mumbai but, again, he was restricted to just five appearances before then missing out entirely in 2019.
Alex Hales
Has developed a reputation as a T20 top-order power hitter for hire but that has not been built off the back of any sustained success in the IPL. Hales has so far acted as an unused substitute for Mumbai late on in their title-winning 2015 campaign, while he played only six times for Sunrisers in 2018 when stuck behind David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan in the pecking order.
Eoin Morgan
England's World Cup-winning captain. He has plenty of IPL experience under his belt, having already played 52 matches for four different franchises - RCB, Kolkata, Sunrisers and Kings XI - but he last featured back in 2017 and his record is rather modest, averaging 21.35 and with only four fifties.
Ravi Bopara
Ravi, along with Morgan, was one of the early IPL trailblazers from the England set-up but, similarly, he never quite caught fire in any of his three stints (2009, 2010, 2015) with Kings XI and then latterly the Sunrisers. But the 34-year-old is enjoying a recent resurgence in T20 cricket - a key cog in Essex's T20 Blast win this summer.
Sam Curran
Curran's man-of-the-series displays as England dispatched India 4-1 in the 2018 Test series convinced Kings XI to part with a cool £800,000 to secure his services this time last year. Nine matches later and with just the one fifty and 10 wickets to his name, Kings XI opted not to retain him for the 2020 tournament.
Chris Woakes
Woakes enjoyed a fine debut IPL campaign with the Knight Riders in 2017, taking 17 wickets across 13 games at an average of 22.70 and forming a fine opening partnership with Umesh Yadav. In 2018 and with some new RCB surroundings, things didn't go quite so well - Woakes, limited to only five appearances, was tonked around to the tune of more than 10 runs an over.
Tom Curran
Much like his younger brother Sam, Tom's IPL experience was also a one-and-done affair, following just five games and six wickets for Kolkata in 2018. But, he's a much-improved cricketer these days, proving as much when finishing the joint-fourth leading wicket-taker for the Sydney Sixers in last year's Big Bash, taking 20 wickets in 14 games and averaging over 30 with the bat to boot.
Chris Jordan
Jordan's IPL career is a curious one. England's T20 death-bowling savant had a decent enough 2016 for RCB, playing nine matches and taking a sensational 4-11 in one win over Gujarat. It persuaded defending-champions Sunrisers to pick him up the following year, but they then only played him just the once in each of the 2017 and 2018 tournaments, limiting him to a role as chief bench-warmer.
Mark Wood
You'd be forgiven for forgetting that Mark Wood has previously played in the IPL as his experience with the Super Kings in 2018 was very much a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of affair. He played one game, their opener against Mumbai, and it wasn't his finest hour as he was plundered for 49 runs from his four overs. But, as the England quick showed with his 18 wickets at an average of 25.72 in the World Cup this summer, when he gets it right, he can be devastating.
Pat Brown
If Banton is England's T20 hope for the future with the bat, then Brown is undoubtedly that with the ball. The 21-year-old made his England debut this winter in New Zealand, off the back of some stellar displays in domestic T20 cricket for Worcestershire. His bag of tricks - including a brilliantly-disguised knuckleball - has seen him take 52 wickets in 40 games.
A further 11 England-qualified players have been made available for Thursday's IPL auction, who could, too, come away with a life-changing deal.
The standout names, arguably, are World Cup winner Liam Plunkett, and another key member of England's white-ball turnaround over the last four years, David Willey, who has some IPL experience already under his belt with Chennai in 2018.
There's further England internationals in the form of T20 specialist, left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills, and the recently-capped Saqib Mahmood and Lewis Gregory, with the latter able to give the ball a fair whack lower down the order as well.
As well as that, you've got tried and tested domestic performers in Benny Howell, a revelation for Gloucestershire with the ball in recent years, and Laurie Evans, whose fine form with the bat in the Blast has earned him deals in the PSL and Caribbean Premier League.
Surrey batsman Will Jacks, at 21 years of age, is very much one for the future but could be set to take off in the same way that Banton did in 2019, while another promising youngster, Sussex's George Garton, could be a cheap alternative for teams looking for that left-arm option with the ball.
And finally, two real wildcard options, fine bowlers though they might be, are Gloucestershire's David Payne and Middlesex's James Fuller.
