David Payne was an anomaly during a doom-laden Ashes winter: an England seamer departing Australia with his reputation enhanced.
Gloucestershire left-armer Payne was so influential in Perth Scorchers winning the Big Bash League title two months ago, taking 11 wickets in six outings at an average of 13.5, that Sunrisers Hyderabad were persuaded to take a punt on him for the upcoming Indian Premier League season.
Uncapped, unheralded, but most significantly unflappable, the Sunrisers drafted him as an injury replacement for Australian Jack Edwards.
Payne arrived yesterday in Bengaluru, where the Sunrisers face last year’s champions Royal Challengers in this weekend’s 2026 season curtain-raiser – the only one of 77 overseas players across the 10 IPL teams not to have featured for their country in Twenty20 cricket (his one England appearance came in a one-day international versus the Netherlands in 2022).
At 35, the likelihood is that his untried status with England remains, with Payne saying: ‘I’ve got out of the cycle of thinking about the call coming, if I’m honest.
‘It’s almost easier being in a different head space, believing that the door is closed and focusing on the franchise world, going out, enjoying things like the IPL and seeing what happens.’
David Payne is in the form of his life aged 35, having won an IPL contract on the back of starring in Australia’s Big Bash with Perch Scorchers over the winter
Payne won an ODI cap in 2022 but at 35, the likelihood is that he won’t be adding to his collection. ‘I’ve got out of the cycle of thinking about the call coming,’ he admits
His form since implementing this policy is hugely impressive. Over four weeks at the turn of this year, Payne played major roles in two tournament finals, taking three wickets in four balls for Desert Vipers to douse MI Emirates’ fire in the ILT20 and then upgrading, claiming three for 18 and the man-of-the-match award against Sydney Sixers in Perth.
He has been something of a magnet when it comes to silverware. First a BBL champion with the Scorchers in early 2023, he helped Gloucestershire to their maiden T20 crown the following year: his figures of 4-0-9-1 versus Sussex in the semi-final preceding a three-wicket burst in the routing of west country rivals Somerset at Edgbaston.
Form that meant while Ben Duckett was shutting the door on his £160,000 deal with Delhi, triggering a multi-year competition ban in the process, Payne was opening one, finalising a contract worth his auction base price of £120,000 with Hyderabad.
‘For a month or so, my agent Phil Weston was saying I was on a shortlist of possible replacements for a couple of teams, which has been the case in the past but didn’t quite work out,’ Payne tells Daily Mail Sport.
‘Then, last Friday evening, he gave me a call, saying, “I think there’s a good chance Sunrisers will be making you an offer over the weekend”. By Saturday afternoon, it was with us, and it was all agreed by the end of the day, which meant doing visas on Sunday.’
But agreeing to become the first Englishman without a T20 cap to head to the IPL since Graham Napier in the Noughties did require some consideration.
‘Being quite a lengthy tournament, it needed to be worthwhile financially from a family point of view. I’ve got two young girls: Ferne will turn five while I am away and Autumn’s just turned two. So, tournament offers are not always a straightforward decision,’ he explains.
‘These things have snowballed a little bit for me in the last year or two. Obviously, my early franchise cricket was always at the lower end of the spectrum, just trying to get my foot in the door, but thankfully the sums of money have gradually kept rising.
Payne (pictured on his ODI bow against the Netherlands) is the first Englishman to head for the IPL without a T20 cap since Graham Napier in the Noughties
‘It’s not going to be easy, by any means, leaving the girls for a long time, being the ages they are, but I guess the way I’ve got to look at it is that I’m doing it as security for them.’
So what of his knowedge of India? It amounts to a week-long trip as a teenager alongside Chris Woakes and other promising young Englishmen to Dennis Lillee’s pace bowling academy in Chennai – ‘My memory of that is already pretty faded and it feels like a country I’ve not been to’ – but nothing else.
As for the Sunrisers? ‘I played with Liam Livingstone in the T10, and I’ve been in England squads with Brydon Carse. A long time ago, I met Travis Head at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Adelaide, but whether he remembers that, who knows?
‘With the IPL, you get the best in the world, and to be able to rub shoulders with Pat Cummins in that dressing room will be a bit of a pinch-yourself moment. It’d be great to learn from him, and if I got to take the new ball with him, that would be a pretty cool experience.’
But Payne will do things his way, having shown that traditional bowling skills of swing and seam can still thrive, after returning from two ankle surgeries three years ago.
‘In a way, I’ve got to believe that will work. I had a year or two around being picked for England, and pace seemed to be the problem for me,’ he explains.
‘I managed to up that for a bit, but I think the toll it took on my body was what led to my ankle problems.
Payne has proved that traditional bowling skills of swing and seam can still thrive in the T20 franchise era
‘Trying to bowl that many overs in county cricket across all three formats at high pace was always going to affect my body.
‘You are dealt the cards you are dealt, but I ultimately believe skill and execution will always win the battle in white-ball cricket.
‘Watching World Cups, batters are getting so good that the pace is not as threatening as it used to be. Moving the ball, and your control, is just as important.
‘That’s going to be my weapon going forward now, and heading into this environment I’ve got to believe that that’s good enough for any player in the world.’
