Saturday, February 06, 2010

Players won't pay for clash

CRICKET Australia yesterday said there was no cause for alarm among the Indian Premier League contracted players.

CA's legal and business affairs department confirmed Indian cricket officials, the IPL and CA had agreed that this year's "one-off" clash of dates was unfortunate and that the players involved were not under threat of heavy penalties.

"I can assure you it is very clear to all parties the players will perform their domestic duties and nobody will be getting their contracts torn up," CA's general manager for legal and business affairs Dean Kino said yesterday.

The worst the players would endure is pro-rata reduction in payments for the early games missed.

Despite assurances from the official body, the players remained nervous about the attitudes of the individual franchises.

Victorian captain Cameron White, who will play for Australia in tomorrow night's Twenty20 blockbuster against world champion Pakistan at the MCG, yesterday said all players caught in the Sheffield Shield-IPL dates clash hoped they wouldn't have to choose between the two.

"There's a lot of money up for grabs ... if it came back to the individual players' choice, personally I could understand whichever way someone wanted to go," White said.

The six-week, 60-match IPL season starts on March 12, on day three of the last Shield game of the season and five days before the start of the Shield final.

Victoria is the defending Shield champion and, with a 10-point buffer from third-placed Western Australia, is on track to reach the final again.

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