London, Apr.1 (ANI): The Indian Premier League organisers have reportedly set their sights on recruiting England all-rounder Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff and several other England players for the Twenty20 competition, which could impact the 2009 Ashes campaign.
Although Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen have rejected big-money offers to join the IPL circus, bosses of the super-rich Twenty20 competition have drawn up a wish list of England stars to sign up next year.
And their top English targets will include Flintoff, Pietersen, Vaughan, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar, Darren Gough and Paul Collingwood - most of whom should be taking on the Aussies in just 15 months, reports The Mirror.
Players who join the IPL, on contracts worth up to 800,000 pounds for six weeks' work, will be banned from Test and one-day internationals unless they obtain a "no-objection" certificate from the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Hampshire big hitter Dmitri Mascarenhas is the only Englishman to sign up - and he will miss the first month of the 2008 season with his county's permission.
But ECB chairman Giles Clarke, who claimed last week England stars would not be clamouring to join IPL, is out of tune with his own team.
The IPL's treasure chest was the talk of the England camp in New Zealand, with man of the series Ryan Sidebottom admitting: "The guys all talk about it in the dressing room. All of us are contracted to the ECB, but it's a difficult situation because everyone wants to play in it."
Batsman Andrew Strauss warned: "I can't believe there are not going to be changes to the game. Money talks too loudly."
And former England pace bowler Dean Headley, an ambassador for the Professional Cricketers Association, warned: "Even if there is not an exodus, there could be a lot of disgruntled England players, which cannot be healthy."
Flintoff, 30, revealed joining the IPL's slogfest, which starts this month, is "not an option" while he completes his comeback from ankle surgery.
Likewise Pietersen is happy to put England before making a fast buck for now. But they are privately thought to fancy a share of the treasure chest.
And unless the ECB softens its hard-line stance, Lord's are on a collision course with England's IPL targets. (ANI)
