Follow UsWith more and more T20 leagues developing worldwide and lucrative offers being thrown at England Test head coach Brendon McCullum believes players could choose to take it up given that they get paid a lot for doing very little work.
A few in the recent past like Trent Boult have also opted out of a central contract with their national team to be available throughout the year to play in franchise T20 leagues. While a few reports recently had mentioned that Jofra Archer could be roped in by Mumbai Indians (MI) to play for their teams around the world, which effectively means that England would have to take MI's permission if they want to pick him.
"In the end, the game is going in a different direction", McCullum told SEN Radio.
"The last few years, there's been a shifting of the sand somewhat around international cricket and we'd be completely naive to think that players would turn down huge amounts of money on long-term contracts for a lot less work in these T20 leagues because they should be playing international cricket. Those days are fast approaching to be over."
McCullum believes that a middle point needs to be found that allows players to give their best for their national sides and simultaneously fulfill their commitments towards the T20 leagues as well.
"So, what you've got to do is you've got to work with these players, you got to work with these leagues and try and allow ideally players to have their cake and eat it too because you want your best players playing [international cricket]. It's not good enough to say. You know what if they don't want to play international cricket for us, then bugger them... we'll move on and find someone different because as a spectator, you want to see the best players in the world representing their countries", he said.
The England Test side has turned a corner since McCullum has taken charge of the side. His next task would be lead them in the one-off Test against Ireland at Lord's, on June 1, followed by the Ashes, starting June 16.