Hoggard calls for Champions Trophy to be scrapped in favour of IPL

London, Apr 16 (UNI) Fast bowler Matthew Hoggard has said the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy should be scrapped to enable more international players to feature in the cash rich IPL which he described as ''six week's work for roughly a year's salary''.

''That is a one-day tournament that none of the players would be sorry to see the back of,'' Hoggard wrote in a column published in The Times.

''If there was a choice of playing the Champions Trophy or the IPL, I know what most international players would prefer to do,'' he added.

Hoggard said most England players would be interested in playing in the IPL in 2009.

''When the England players were discussing the IPL on our recent tour to New Zealand the general feeling was that we'd see how this first run of the tournament went. There were no gaps in the schedule this year, so participation was not an option for England players,'' he remarked.

''But in the future you would be silly to rule yourself out, such are sums of money involved. We're talking six week's work for roughly a year's salary,'' he added.

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