Stokes agrees to leave IPL early and lead England into busy summer schedule

22 February 2023 , 13:53

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Ben Stokes has confirmed he will play in all six matches this summer (Image: PA)

Ben Stokes will leave the IPL early if need be in order to play in England's first Test of the summer against Ireland in June.

Test captain Stokes has made it clear he will be leading the team in all six matches this summer starting with Ireland, even if it means missing the knockout stages of the IPL. With the Ashes to follow, some players with IPL deals such as Harry Brook, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow may miss the Ireland clash with the ECB’s blessing.

But Stokes has already agreed a departure date with the Chennai Super Kings, who parted with £1.63 million to bring him back to the tournament after he sat out in 2022.

“I will play,” said Stokes of the Ireland game. “I'll be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that game. 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.

Ben Stokes will ask other players like Jofra Archer whether they want to miss the Ireland Test (Getty Images)

"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.

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"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 and we want to do what’s best to prepare for that.”

The final of the IPL is on May 28th, which would leave precious little time for players to return for the first Test at Lord’s. However New Zealand’s Trent Boult made the journey from the IPL final to London last year and two days later walked out at Lord’s and captured 3-21 as England were skittled.

He is perhaps the exception that proves the rule, and it is unlikely that England will do anything remotely similar with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who will need to build their workloads in India for the summer.

Dean Wilson