Jimmy Anderson is a national treasure… but financial lure of the IPL could see future stars turn their backs on England, writes James Taylor

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James Taylor6 September 2017

The new television deal in the Indian Premier League is a big game-changer for international cricket.

Star Sports will pay nearly £2billion for the rights to the tournament for the next five years and there is every chance this will alter the way players look at the game.

I still believe Test cricket is the pinnacle of the sport but deals like this will only increase the already high salaries available in the IPL and sway more players away from representing their countries.

With the IPL and other Twenty20 tournaments around the world, you can have so much fun playing the game you love, earning more money than you would in international cricket and without the stress that brings. Some cricketers will look at it and think: “What is not to like?”

How will this work for England in the future? I doubt the new IPL deal will affect the next round of central contracts, which are likely to be announced at the end of the month or early next, but who knows what will happen five or 10 years down the line?

On one side of the room, you have the deals available in the IPL, where Ben Stokes earned £1.7m for a stint of less than two months with Rising Pune Supergiant earlier this year. On the other, you have the ECB, who pay their players handsomely - Joe Root and Stokes reportedly earn about £1m per year - but perhaps not at the same level as they might earn in the Twenty20 leagues.

England are lucky with their current crop of players. I know Root, Stokes (below, in action for Rising Pune Supergiant in the IPL) and Chris Woakes well enough to be confident that if it came to a decision between playing for England and playing in the IPL, they would choose England every time - but it is not certain that everyone thinks the same way as they do.

We have to ask ourselves, too, how the cricketers of the future look at this. When I was growing up, the vast majority of televised cricket involved England, whether it was Test or one-day internationals.

Now, the IPL and Big Bash are available if you have satellite TV, so kids are exposed to the entertainment and razzmatazz. It is only natural if they are inspired by the batsmen and bowlers who dominate these tournaments and try to copy what they do, rather than working on the traditional skills of line and length or defensive strokes.

The pressure will surely intensify over time for the cricket boards in England and Australia to give better contracts to the top players.

We do not want to see a situation here like the one that has affected West Indies, where many of the best players compete in T20 leagues more often than they do in the international game.

Yes, there are other political issues to consider in the Caribbean but the fact remains that many boards cannot come close to the wealth on offer in the Twenty20 game.

I can honestly say that money was never my main motivation. When I was an international player, I still played club cricket for free. But I am not naive enough to think everyone has the same attitude as I did.

Around the world, sport is becoming influenced more and more by money. Look at the size of transfer fees in football during the summer, or the deals negotiated by the stars of American sport. We have to understand that our game may go the same way.

I would like to see Test and international limited-overs cricket stay at the top of the tree but it will be a very tough task for administrators to keep them there.

Why Jimmy Anderson is a national treasure

Photo: Getty Images
Getty Images

We should stop thinking about Jimmy Anderson only as one of England’s best cricketers because he is quite clearly one of the best sportsmen we have.

He needs three more wickets to reach 500 in Tests, something that only Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh have achieved among seam bowlers. It is an incredible achievement, yet when awards such as the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year are handed out, Jimmy rarely seems to be considered.

I got to know Jimmy reasonably well during my time in the England side. The common perception of him is that he is quiet, even a little grumpy, but I found that the more jovial I was around him, the better we got on.

Apart from the last 18 months, when he has had one or two injuries, his fitness record is phenomenal, which tells you how mentally strong and disciplined he is. He is a bit of a ‘closet trainer’ - he does everything behind the scenes in terms of rehabilitation and gym work to ensure he remains at the top of his game.

He doesn’t say a lot but when he does, it is invariably insightful because his knowledge of the game is brilliant and he always wants to help others, especially the less-experienced members of the bowling group like Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Toby Roland-Jones.

Jimmy is 35 but he will carry on for as long as he can. He is among the very best in his field and there is no reason why he will not stay there for a little while yet.

It’s easy to lose focus with the Ashes looming

Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Gareth Copley/Getty Images

No England player will admit publicly this week that he is thinking about the Ashes. He will say that he is focusing only on the task ahead — beating West Indies, clinching the series and ending the summer on a high note.

Unfortunately, when you have a Test series in Australia starting in two-and-a-half months, it is very difficult to disregard it.

Most cricketers never get a chance to play an Ashes series Down Under. So it is natural that your thoughts turn to the lure of taking on the Aussies.

When that is at the back of a batsman’s mind, can he really say he is concentrating on this ball, this over, this innings, as much as he would like?

I’ve been there myself with England, albeit never before an Ashes tour. But you have to try to overcome it, and I usually played my best cricket when I was able to do so.

The key is to try to immerse yourself in the situation of the game. What is the position when you walk out to bat? What are the bowlers doing with the ball? How is the wicket playing? What do you need to do to give your team the upper hand?

If you can do that, it becomes easier to play naturally and not think about your technique, or what the pundits are saying, or what a good innings would do for your prospects.

Dawid Malan is one of those batsmen under pressure but I was impressed with the way he handled himself in the second innings at Headingley. He made 61 in nearly five hours and received some criticism for the style of his innings, yet when he walked out to bat, England were still in arrears.

That sort of grit and character suggests he can be successful.

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