With the trend of giving up their international contracts to play for international leagues across the world on the rise, a recent report said that 2019 ICC ODI World Cup-winning batter Jason Roy is the latest high-profile player to join the bandwagon.
Roy, who holds an incremental deal with the ECB - plans to terminate his contract to play in USA's Major League Cricket (MLC). Along with him, his Surrey teammate Reece Topley is also considering the same but will depend on his fitness status.
The inaugural edition of the MLC is set to kick off from July 13-30 at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas, with four of the six franchises owned by Indian Premier League (IPL) outfits, while Cricket Victoria and Cricket New South Wales have stakes in the other two.
ESPNCricInfo reports that "English players on full central contracts are unlikely to feature in MLC this year but Jason Roy - who holds an incremental deal with the ECB - plans to terminate his contract to play in the league. Reece Topley, Roy's Surrey and England team-mate, is weighing up the merits of the same move, though his decision may depend on his fitness status after shoulder surgery last month."
The MLC season will clash with the semi-finals and finals of the T20 Blast as well as two rounds of the County Championship fixtures, which will be played between the Finals Day and the start of the Hundred on August 1.
The report adds that ECB is not willing to provide No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) that would enable contracted players to feature in MLC.
Jason Roy is six of such Englishmen on incremental deals, with a worth of around £66,000 per year. They are Dawid Malan, Matthew Potts, Roy, Topley and David Willey. However, Roy might be offered a lucrative deal by the LA Knight Riders, which is the sister club of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
With a trend of giving up central contracts to play league cricket increasing, Roy will join the New Zealand players Trent Boult, Martin Guptill and Colin de Grandhomme in doing the same.
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