Surrey reject IPL Ramps bid

Surrey rejected a bid for Mark Ramprakash to play in the IPL

Surrey have confirmed rebuffing an Indian Premier League offer for Mark Ramprakash but are open to releasing their players in future.

Rajasthan Royals wanted Ramprakash, 38, to fill in while South Africa captain Graeme Smith was absent from their squad.

“They said they wanted Ramps for a very short period of time,” Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon explained. “It was just a week.

“I talked to Ramps, he was very flattered by it but understood that he is contracted to Surrey and couldn’t possibly go and miss, say, the Durham County Championship match.

“It is very important to do everything we can to allow our players to benefit from this. We want our high-profile players to participate if that is at all possible but their first contractual obligation is always going to be us.

“Ramps understands this fully but he quite rightly wants the opportunity at some stage before he retires.”

Sheldon added: “We will no doubt have to deal with this kind of situation again and we have to look at in terms of the way our contracts are written.”

“I have told our players we do not want to stand in their way of benefiting from this but they have to understand their number one obligation is to their county contract.”