8.2.2008
Hindustan
MUMBAI, Notwithstanding Cricket Australia's (CA's) reservations
and their existing national commitments, top Australian
players are all set to sign on the dotted line with the
Indian Premier League (IPL).
Neil Maxwell and Steve Atkinson, representing cricketers
from Down Under, were here on Thursday to facilitate the
signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the players
and the IPL.
"It is the Long Form Agreement, a two-page document.
We had a discussion with Lalit Modi (IPL Commissioner and
a Vice-President of BCCI)," Maxwell told Hindustan
Times. "We are here to work through the players' contracts
… The MoU covers the obligations of the players and
the IPL."
CA had raised the issue of protection of its sponsors when
the Australian players take part in the IPL. But Maxwell
believed the players were well within their right to sign
up.
"The CA has to work that through with the BCCI. As
Modi had said on a number of occasions, the sponsors don't
get protection when the Australian players play in the English
County," he said.
Also, the Australian team is scheduled to tour Pakistan
around the same time the inaugural IPL - 59 matches over
44 days - is to be held, although the political situation
has raised doubts about the fixture going ahead. Maxwell
said that CA was yet to convey to the players a final decision
about the tour, one way or the other.
Asked how the IPL would fit into the international calendar
when the Test-playing nations were committed to the Future
Tours Programme at least till 2011, Maxwell said: "The
IPL has a role in the calendar each year. It is only going
to grow in significance in time."
Moody for IPL
The list of players represented by Maxwell included Tom
Moody, the former all-rounder who coached Sri Lanka to the
World Cup final in the West Indies last year. "After
what happened last month, a lot of players want to rebuild
and strengthen their ties with India," Maxwell said.
The Mumbai matches, it was decided, would be held at the
Brabourne Stadium.
Twenty per cent of tickets for state associations
BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said that it had been decided
to reserve "20 per cent of the tickets to the state
associations." Allotting tickets for matches to the
club members and the local state association had been foreseen
a thorny issue. Shah did not give a clear reply when asked
if that percentage also included the members of the Cricket
Club of India (CCI), set to host the Mumbai matches, though.
The eight franchises are scheduled to meet the IPL bosses
over the next two days when many prickly issues are to be
sorted out.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the player auction is tentatively
set for February 20.
In the league
Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Stephen Fleming, Brett Lee,
Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden,
Nathan Bracken, Cameron White, Mike Hussey, Jason Gillespie,
Justin Langer and Tom Moody.
Courtesy - SNNI |