“Yes, I’ll play,” Stokes answered when asked if he will play the Ireland Test. “I’ll be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that [Ireland] game.”
How many follow his lead remains to be seen. There are currently eight other Test players – active or available – set to play in the IPL, of which six are on full-time contracts (Joe Root, Mark Wood, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran), with Harry Brook on an incremental deal. While the ECB could enforce a date for them to return, Stokes says he will discuss what they need to be ready for the Ashes, leaving the door open for some to miss the Ireland Test if they’d prefer.
“I’ll probably get round the individuals and ask them what they want to be ready for for the Ashes, because those five games are obviously the big ones of the summer, and you’ve got to think about what lads want. But what if something was to happen in that game [Ireland] and we lose someone for the Ashes … 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, obviously, I’m right in saying that series is bigger than that game against Ireland.”
“If we have got a couple of people who are a bit sore, or bowlers who don’t feel like they are 100 percent right to go, then I will still be picking my best team because I will be picking the XI who are able to play,” Stokes said. “So it’s the beauty of the squad we’ve got at the moment – if someone doesn’t feel like they’re quite up to performing again after a close turnaround, we’ll still be able to pick the best team judging by the people we’ve got.”