English county side Surrey want cut-off date for IPL player recruitment

Surrey have called for a cut-off date to be implemented to prevent Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises from signing players close to the start of the County Championship season in England.

Alec Stewart, Surrey's director of cricket, complained that late IPL call-ups, such as the deal that took Tom Curran to Kolkata Knight Riders as an injury replacement for Mitchell Starc, disrupts the plans of county sides.

The remarks come after Yorkshire expressed unhappiness with David Willey and Liam Plunkett signing with Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils, respectively, just days before the start of the county season.

Some 12 English players are taking part in IPL 2018 – more than in any other season of the Indian domestic tournament.

"It's far from ideal losing Tom so late," Stewart told ESPNcricinfo.

"I hope in time this will be looked at. The IPL is not going anywhere – I fully understand players wanting to be part of it because, one, it's a good competition and, second, it helps your bank balance.

"The problem is when you get the phone calls I got for Tom, and Martyn Moxon (Yorkshire's director of cricket) got for Willey and Plunkett. Your planning goes out of the window."

Stewart added: "All I think needs to be looked at is a cut-off, ideally a month before the championship starts. If you get picked up in the auction, that's fine – it's at the end of February, so that's six or seven weeks before the start of the season.

"Then everyone knows that, even if you don't get picked up in the auction, there's a three- or four-week window, but once that has gone, you can't then go and play."

Yorkshire director of cricket Moxon chaired a meeting of representatives from first-class counties to discuss the clash in scheduling between the county season and the IPL earlier this month.

The 2018 season of the IPL got underway on April 7, with the Twenty20 tournament running until May 27.