Michael Vaughan said yesterday that it would be “naive” to think England's leading players would never play in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) and that he could envisage himself playing in the competition.

Vaughan, the England Test captain, will make his first appearance of the season for Yorkshire in a three-day match against Leeds/Bradford UCCE, starting today, but he conceded that all eyes will turn towards Bangalore on Friday, when the inaugural IPL season begins. “We shouldn't see it as a threat, we should see it as an opportunity for cricket,” Vaughan said. “I can't see it being anything but a success.”

Although centrally contracted England players have been unable to play in this year's IPL, Vaughan is sure that they will in future. “We're naive if we think that England players aren't going to end up playing in the IPL,” he said. “When you're talking such a huge amount of money in such a short space of time, players are going to be interested and they're going to play in it. Somewhere down the line, I'm sure a schedule will be put in place that makes players available.” Asked whether he was likely to be among them, Vaughan said: “I'm sure I will eventually, I'm sure an opportunity will arise.”

After averaging only 20.5 opening the batting in the recent Test series against New Zealand, Vaughan said that he is likely to move back down the order for the home series against the same opponents that begins next month. “We'll have to sit down with Peter Moores [the head coach] and the selectors to discuss that, but Andrew Strauss is at No3 at the moment, he likes opening, while I'm at No2 and I like batting at three, so maybe that will be a change.”

ECB officials met Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire, at Lord's yesterday. Giles Clarke, the chairman, will discuss plans for multi-million pound Twenty20 challenge matches in the Caribbean, during England's tour next year, with Julian Hunte, his West Indies counterpart, this weekend.

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