MLC is due to take place from July 13-30 at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas and has significant backing from both India and Australia: four of the six franchises have investors who own IPL teams, while Cricket Victoria and Cricket New South Wales have stakes in the other two.
As a result, the ECB will not give No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) that would enable contracted players to feature in MLC. And while players are unlikely to negotiate a release from full white-ball contracts to play in the US, such a move would make financial sense for those on incremental deals.
The ECB incremental contracts are worth around £66,000 per year and effectively act as a top-up to county salaries. Six players have such deals for the 2022-23 contract cycle: Harry Brook, Dawid Malan, Matthew Potts, Roy, Topley and David Willey.
ESPNcricinfo understands that Surrey are expecting Roy to play MLC – most likely for LA Knight Riders – between the end of their Blast season and the start of the Hundred, and that he would have to agree a release from his incremental contract to do so. If Surrey reach Finals Day, Roy will be available for them and miss the start of MLC.
Topley outlined his white-ball ambitions on Surrey’s live stream last week: “If you’d have asked me when I was young, I’d have said I’d love to play 100 Tests for England,” he said. “Now, if you asked me, [I’d say] I’d love to go to as many IPLs as I can. I don’t think the stigma around saying you want to play and be successful in white-ball cricket is that bad.”
England contracts run from October to September, so requesting a release from an incremental deal at this stage of the year would cost players around £20,000. Each MLC franchise has a purse of $1.15 million (£930,000 approx.) – to cover between 16 and 19 players, of which nine can be from overseas – so any deals would offset the loss of earnings from leaving an England contract.
The ECB is in the process of revamping its central contract system for the 2023-24 season to adapt to the growth of franchise leagues, and any decisions to leave incremental contracts will not be held against players in selection moving forward.
A Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo: “This is covered by the comprehensive standard playing contract agreed by the ECB, counties and the PCA. It is completely at the employers’ discretion whether players are issued an NOC in-season.”