Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell has confirmed that Alex Hales, Samit Patel and Michael Lumb will all begin the season with Nottinghamshire following reported interest from Indian Premier League franchises.

The trio had expressed an interest in pursuing deals in the IPL but Newell made a policy decision that all Nottinghamshire players must make themselves available for the LV= County Championship and Clydesdale Bank 40.

“We were very clear that we expected all of our players to be available to us as we would be severely weakened if we were to lose them for that period of time at that stage of the season,” said Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell.

“The players asked me to consider releasing them to enable them to take part in the IPL but they are key members of the squad and I explained that we wouldn’t be able to allow them to take part.”

Newell explained that Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann would be free to pursue IPL deals if they wished given that they are centrally contracted by the ECB.