England's cricketers will be allowed to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) for 21 days of the six-week competition, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Thursday. The ECB confirmed on its website that the 12 players under its control had signed their 12-month central contract deals which stipulate the opportunity to play in the competition. “Contracts have been signed by the players and we are waiting on the IPL to come back with confirmation,” all-rounder Paul Collingwood was quoted as saying on the website. England is currently on an 11-week tour of the Caribbean and the 21-day period will start in April, shortly after the tour ends. The ECB said those players who are signed up by IPL franchises would not be available for the round of County Championship matches ending on May 1 and May 2. However, they will be available for the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's on May 6. Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, told Sky Sports News the decision would benefit the game in England. Over $1.7 billion was spent on buying the eight franchises for the 2008 tournament with a further $40 million laid out to attract the world's leading players to the league. – ReutersEngland arrives in WI BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – England, under new captain Andrew Strauss, touched down in the Caribbean on Wednesday confident that it can continue its dominance over West Indies. The visitors were greeted at the Robert Bradshaw International Airport by a delegation of government and cricket officials led by St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas. There was no news conference on arrival. Only a brief photo session before the team members boarded the bus for their hotel. England plans to waste little time getting into high gear for the series against West Indies and have scheduled a training session for Thursday at Warner Park. England will also take on the St. Kitts national team in a three-day match at Warner Park starting on Sunday, and will also meet a West Indies A-team in a similar fixture starting two days later at the same venue. They face West Indies at Sabina Park in the Jamaica capital of Kingston in the first of four Tests on Feb. 4. England has not lost to the West Indies in a Test series since Michael Atherton's side lost 3-1 in the Caribbean 11 years ago. Record crowds Crowds at domestic cricket in England rose 23 percent last season to an all-time high of 1.5 million, according to figures released on Thursday by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Attendances at county championship games, which had been in decline for many years, went up by 30 percent on the previous season to 558,950. The most watched competition was the Twenty20 Cup, which also attracted more than 500,000 fans to a smaller number of group games, quarterfinals and finals. Flower cool with KP Andy Flower is adamant he can work with Kevin Pietersen during England's tour of the West Indies even though he might not still be in a job if the former captain had had his way. Pietersen's falling-out with Peter Moores eventually ended this month with him losing the England captaincy and Moores being sacked as England coach. It subsequently emerged the South Africa-born star batsman was also not overly impressed with the coaching ability of Flower, then Moores' deputy. “Kevin and I have always had a good relationship actually,” he said. “I don't know if the Southern African thing has helped with that. It's always been an honest and open relationship so I don't see any problem.”
