IPL line up Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen

England players are on a collision course with the England and Wales Cricket Board over new central contracts after teams from the Indian Premier League raised the stakes by lining up six-figure offers for Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.
It is believed that Pietersen is the subject of bids from all eight IPL franchises, while reports in India suggest Flintoff is close to a deal with the Kolkata Knight iders, the glamorous team owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. Flintoff's agent, Neil Fairbrother, last night denied a deal was imminent.

Both would command fees of more than $1.5 million (£750,000) per year and are set to lead an English invasion of the IPL. England one-day captain Paul Collingwood is expected to sign an IPL deal, too, with Owais Shah, Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara also the subjects of lucrative bids believed to be in the region of $300,000.
The IPL bids are on the table at a time when the ECB are thrashing out new central contracts with the England players. It had been hoped they would be signed by Monday but the players union, the Professional Cricketers' Association, failed yesterday to agree terms with the ECB.
Until the new central contracts are signed, the ECB will not issue the non-objection certificate a player needs before joining an IPL team. It is a stance that has led to fears in the England dressing room that the IPL franchises will lose patience and take their offers elsewhere. "It is a stumbling block," one IPL source said.
The ECB this week agreed to hold a Test series against Sri Lanka next May, which leaves a window of only 10-12 days for England players to play the IPL.
IPL contracts are paid on a pro-rata basis and returning early from the tournament would cost a player up to $300,000 per week. It is on this basis that the players will demand a pay rise when the new central contracts kick in this September.