Simon Doull

It just happened to be the big top of conversation at the time.

But who does he consider his main employer?

And for me, that is the ECB.

Now, since 2019 World Cup, he's played, I think, just under 30% of all games for England since the 2019 World Cup.

Played 14 of 80-something test matches.

since that time.

He's been paid, and I'm spitballing here because I've had a little bit of information, but it's not absolutely guaranteed.

In that time, he's earned about six and a half, seven million pounds from the ECB.

But what he's had from the ECB in that whole time is every ounce of their medical help for nothing, every ounce of their rehabilitation for nothing.

So his employer has paid him a fairly good chunk of money

and paid all of his medical bills and every part of rehabilitation every time he's been injured.

So that to me gives them a bit of a right to say, we're happy for you to go to the IPL, but we want you for the last week and a half, two weeks, bowling with a red ball in between games, getting ready for the first test, which in the end was six days after, I think, his last game.

In the IPL, the first test match started when Rajasthan got knocked out.

So that was sort of the point around it.

And many players have done it.

Jacob Bethel, for instance, had a box of Duke's balls delivered to Bangalore, I think two and a half weeks before the start of the first test match.

He was about to get into red ball training and broke his finger.

So I referenced the New Zealand situation going back the last tour here when it started at the same time.

Tim Southey, Trent Bolt were in India bowling with the red ball and the nets on their days off, getting ready for a test match.

So it was more around that.