• Selectors keen to see Surrey’s 18-year-old all-rounder close up • Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes will stay with franchises and miss May series

Sam Curran could be a surprise beneficiary of the recent English success in the Indian Premier League auction, with Surrey’s teenage all-rounder now in line for an England call-up to face Ireland in two ODIs in May in the absence of Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes.

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Stokes, who on Monday picked up a record £1.7m deal to play for Rising Pune Supergiants, and Woakes, signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for £500,000, were on Tuesday cleared to remain with their new franchises until 14 May and therefore skip the two-match series against the associate nation at the start of that month.

Curran, in Sri Lanka with the England Lions, is understood to have come close to winning a place on the tour of the Caribbean that departs on Wednesday after his fellow left-armer, David Willey, was ruled out because of shoulder surgery.

While the selectors eventually opted for experience in Steve Finn, the management are keen to see the talented 18-year-old close up, and view the Ireland games, without two first choice all-rounders, as an ideal opportunity.

Jos Buttler, who is set for his second season at Mumbai Indians, has also been granted an additional fortnight in the IPL but Eoin Morgan has been told he must return from his new side, Kings XI Punjab, by 1 May in order to lead England against his former country.

Sam Billings and Jason Roy (Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions) are similarly being recalled early, and with Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales both unsold in the auction and therefore available, Ireland will still face strong sides at Bristol and Lord’s – their first bilateral series in England – despite the three high-profile absentees.

A training camp in Spain also means that Stokes, Woakes and Buttler will miss the final week of the IPL, but Tymal Mills is available for all of his £1.4m deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore, given the left-arm fast bowler’s status as a Twenty20 specialist. Chris Jordan, who picked up a £60,000 contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad, can similarly remain to the end as he is not currently in England’s 50-over thoughts in the buildup to the summer’s Champions Trophy.

Their plans will be further informed by the North v South series in the United Arab Emirates in March, at which the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, will be present following an extended break during which he will miss the upcoming three-match one-day series against West Indies that begins in Antigua on 3 March.

Sidebottom to retire

Yorkshire fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom has announced he will retire from playing professional cricket at the end of the 2017 county season. The 39-year-old, who helped England win the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, will call time on a 20-year career spanning three decades in the summer. Sidebottom will head into his final campaign with more than 1,000 career wickets to his name and five County Championship titles, after wins with Yorkshire in 2001, 2014 and 2015 and Nottinghamshire in 2005 and 2010. “There’s a tear in my eye whenever I think about not playing professional cricket again,” he said. “But it’s the right time to go.” PA