Mark Butcher has said the ECB has made itself "hostage to outside influences" by selling off its shares in The Hundred franchises, following reports that IPL-owned teams will not consider bidding for Pakistani players at next month's auction.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher voiced his concern that the ECB is no longer "entirely in control" of the game in England. The ECB sold its shares in all eight Hundred franchises last week to private investors, including four IPL team owners. Reports emerged last week that the Indian-owned franchises would not consider Pakistan players for selection during the auction, which will take place next month.
"The concern lies around the idea that the ECB in having made these deals that have brought in very significant amounts of money to the English game – to what end is something else that can be debated later down the line – is now finding itself in a position where it can be held hostage to outside influences within the game," said Butcher. "If a franchise owner wants to bid on solely players from our favourite social media account the Iceland cricket team, then that's up to them, they are entitled to pick players from wherever they want.
"So trying to prove that there is direct discrimination on the basis of what people do in auctions is incredibly difficult, impossible almost, because there will always be a cricketing reason as to why X has been picked over Y. But the issue comes when it appears that there is a shadow banning of players from a certain country – in this case, Pakistan – that has been implicitly recognised by the governing body. That's a huge issue in terms of employment law, I believe it's illegal.
"That's where the issue lies here. For me it doesn't lie with the IPL owners and it doesn't lie with the issues around India and Pakistan, it lies with the idea that the ECB, having sold this large chunk of the English summer, is now allowing that influence to dictate policy on something within the English game."
The longlist of players who have signed up for The Hundred auction was released last week, and included 67 Pakistani players, despite the reports that IPL-owned teams would not consider them for selection. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf led the men's list while Muneeba Ali and Fatima Sana both signed up for the women's auction.
It was reported by BBC Sport yesterday (February 22) that the ECB had written to all eight Hundred franchises, including those not under IPL ownership, "reminding them of their responsibilities around discrimination". Last year, ECB chief executive Richard Gould said that he expected "players from all nations to be selected for all teams" in The Hundred.
"The ECB were very keen, and eager to shout about this deal almost long before it was signed off," said Butcher. "In the process of that, perhaps they weren't quite as stringent over their protection over the English game going forward and English players for example – the Director or Cricket not being able to pull players out of The Hundred unless injured. Should they require a rest or should they be required to go and do a camp or whatever it is for international duty. It's things like that where you cede control of your prize assets which are your players.
"Again, the point being that whether it's IPL owned teams or anyone else's owned teams, the control you have over the game in your cricket season, being played on your grounds, contractually the way that the whole thing works isn't as watertight as you want it to be and it allows a little too much wriggle-room for those who have put money in, in my opinion."
The Hundred auction is set to take place on March 11 and 12. The long-list of players will be whittled down into a pool of 200 to go under the gavel, who will be selected from shortlists of players submitted by each team.
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