ECB, BCCI agree to two-year IPL deal for England players

Top England stars, including Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, will be available for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) both this year and the next season after the Indian Cricket Board and their English counterparts reached an agreement on Tuesday.

A joint statement issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the England players would play in the IPL for a minimum of a three weeks in 2009 and 2010. 

The agreement put at rest the uncertainty for the availability of the England players in the IPL auction on February 6 in Goa.

The two boards said they would be working together to create a 'window' for the IPL in 2010 within the confines of the current international fixture schedule. 

This year's IPL runs from April 10 to May 29 and England's ongoing tour of the West Indies ends with a one-day international in St Lucia on April 3. 

As part of the agreement, every England player who signs an IPL contract will have to give 10 percent of their earnings to their county. 

The BCCI and ECB added they'd also agreed to schedule Test match and one-day international series over a four-year period starting in 2011. 

"Our agreement is good for the players, the respective b oards, our counties and for cricket," ECB chief executive David Collier said in the statement.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan welcomed the new arrangements on Tuesday and said, "We are very pleased with the outcome of the discussions. BCCI looks forward to building upon our warm relationship with the ECB."

England players had signed their central contracts after the ECB had cleared a three-week window for the IPL this season but later held back from handing the papers to their employers demanding that they also be granted a similar window for the next season. 

IPL chief Lalit Modi had also demanded at least the three-week window for two seasons. 

The new deal means England players selected for IPL duty this year will go into the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's on May 7 without first-class match practice.