England hope to reap IPL benefit

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In an Ashes summer there was considerable criticism of the England and Wales Cricket Board's decision to give permission for several key players to seek out the riches and experience of the IPL, particularly as Australia chose to rest theirs.

But as England prepare for their opening match of the tournament against the Netherlands at Lord's, captain Paul Collingwood said: "I still believe the exposure to more Twenty20 cricket and the IPL is a massive bonus. You just have to see the way Ravi (Bopara) is holding himself at the moment. He's very calm but he just knows his game so well and everyone can see that he's come back as a new man."

Bopara's form since returning from the IPL would certainly back that up with centuries in both Tests against West Indies and an impressive 60 off 35 balls during Wednesday's nine-wicket warm-up win over the same opponents at Lord's.

Collingwood is so convinced by the merits of the IPL that he admits England may still be trailing other countries during this tournament because only five of their players - Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Bopara, Graham Napier and Dimitri Mascarenhas - have gained experience of it.

"I think we're still playing catch up a little bit," he said. "You can see that when you play the better sides and the more experienced guys who have played a lot of Twenty20 cricket that there is still a little gap, but we're developing some cricketers now that have got a lot of power.

"Luke Wright hasn't been exposed to the IPL or anything like that but he still produced a game in county cricket with a lot of power and his bowling is very handy as well."