IPL still an issue for England

The lucrative Twenty20 competition took the majority of the cricketing world by storm in its inaugural season in 2008.

But Dimitri Mascarenhas was the only England representative present, with the England and Wales Cricket Board struggling to make room for the competition in its calendar.

Fifteen days have since been allocated for the six-week competition in 2009, which is provisionally scheduled to start on April 10.

And new England captain Strauss is backing his players to do the right thing in the build-up to the first home Test against West Indies starting on May 6.

“Players have to be fully prepared for a Test match. Now what that preparation means is dependent on the players to a certain extent. I’m quite happy to trust the players,” Strauss said.

“The players that are going to be involved in the IPL are experienced campaigners. They know what sort of preparation they need in order to prepare for Test matches and I’m sure that whatever time they have prior to the Test match they will use that wisely.”

Strauss has set up a players’ management group, comprising of Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad, since assuming the captaincy from Kevin Pietersen and the emphasis appears to be on giving the players more responsibility.

“I have asked them to be very honest with themselves about what they need to do in order to prepare for test matches,” he added.

“I’m going to trust them to go out and prepare themselves and they will use the coaches as little or as much as they feel necessary. And the coaches are very happy with that.

“The coaches will play a little more of an advisory (and) consultancy role.”