White-ball captain Jos Buttler has admitted the balance between clubs and country is becoming ever more difficult to maintain: "I certainly don't want to be in a position where you rule people out and say they'll never play for England again"
England's management are wary of the impact of franchise cricket on the availability of players for overseas tours, but they are keen to avoid dictating where and when they should be playing.
The upcoming men's trip to Bangladesh in March is a good illustration of the issues faced by selectors, with several white-ball stars who don't hold an ECB central contract opting to remain in the Pakistan Super League instead of making themselves available for ODI and T20I cricket.
Among their number is Alex Hales, who has only just been reintroduced to the national setup after a three-year exile. Sam Billings, the Kent captain who earlier this year announced he would not be taking up his contract in the Indian Premier League in order to play red-ball cricket for his county, and left-arm spinner Liam Dawson have also chosen to stay at the PSL.
The ECB continues to encourage English players to take part in overseas competitions, believing it plays a considerable part in individual development, and is therefore unlikely to deny such opportunities.
And England white-ball captain Jos Buttler has admitted the balance between clubs and country is becoming ever more difficult to maintain.
England white-ball captain Jos Buttler [Getty Images]
"It's quite a unique situation," he said. "It's the time we are in. The way the games are scheduled, I can sort of understand it both ways. As an England captain, on one side you wish that everyone would see playing for England as the main thing and grab any opportunity available.
"But there are bigger things in play as well and the discrepancy between what people can earn playing for England and not playing for England is quite large, so that's a factor that must be considered and for each individual that will be a different decision made at different times of their careers.
"In this day and age, you've got to try to work with it as best you can and if people make that choice to make themselves unavailable they know they're giving someone else a chance as well. I certainly don't want to be in a position where you rule people out and say they'll never play for England again or anything like that."
England's men ended a run of five straight ODI defeats by beating South Africa in Kimberley on Wednesday. The trip to Bangladesh, which includes three 50-over matches and three T20s, represents good preparation for this autumn's World Cup in India.
But in addition to the absences of Hales, Billings and Dawson, Buttler will be without key figures Harry Brook and Joe Root, owing to the Test tour of New Zealand. With Liam Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow injured, the buildup to the tournament is proving to be quite rocky for England's new captain.
Alex Hales has opted against touring Bangladesh [Getty Images]
"Wherever people are playing, we want to pick our best available team, especially for World Cups and big ICC events, so we are open minded. It's quite complicated, for sure, and of course there are some frustrations at certain points but I completely understand people's positions and it's an individual decision at the end of the day," Buttler said.
One player he will be desperate to have at his disposal in India is Jofra Archer.
Archer has returned to elite-level cricket in exciting form, following two nightmare years battling injuries, and claimed 6 for 40 in the third ODI on Wednesday.
The seamer will be in demand for most of 2023 - he has been picked for the Bangladesh tour, is currently at the SA20 with MI Cape Town, will switch to Mumbai Indians for the IPL, and is wanted by Ben Stokes as part of England's Ashes squad - and his workload will need to be managed to avoid any further breakdown.
"He wants to play," Buttler said of Archer. "When he's come back and he's fit, and there's cricket available, it doesn't seem to make sense to hold him back.
"He obviously needs to build his overs, and his resilience, to being able to bowl 10 overs a game and of course for English cricket looking ahead you want to see him playing Test cricket as well where he will be able to bowl spell after spell."
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