Young NSW opener David Warner has signed a two-year deal to join Indian Premier League side Delhi Daredevils.
The 22-year-old, who hit a NSW one-day record score of 165 not out for the Blues against Tasmania at Hurstville Oval in a Ford Ranger Cup game last month, is rated as one of the state’s best young talents.Left-hander Warner will play for the Daredevils during the 2009-10 seasons alongside former Australia bowling great Glenn McGrath, India opener Virender Sehwag and South Africa batsman AB de Villiers.
Warner, who has yet to play a Sheffield Shield match, has played eight one-day games for NSW at an average of 64.16 and seven Twenty20 games at 21.33.
The auction of new players for the Indian Premier League’s second edition will be held on February 6 without a ceiling on the number of “uncapped” cricketers a franchise can acquire, the cash-rich Twenty20 League’s governing body said on Wednesday.
“A player auction will be held on February 6, 2009 for new players that did not feature in the IPL 2008 season. All overseas players will, however, require an NOC to play in the IPL,” the IPL governing body said in a statement.”Outside the auction process but subject to the squad composition rules with respect to overseas players, each franchise will have the option to purchase any number of uncapped new players by a direct agreement,” it added.
Uncapped players will be the ones who have never played senior international cricket nor have a central contract with their National Association.Each franchise will have a sum of USD two million to spend on player fees in 2009 for cricketers acquired either in the auction, through signing uncapped new players or re-signing any 2008 temporary replacements.The decisions were made at a meeting of the franchises in Mumbai on Tuesday to apprise them about the player trading regulations for the 2009 season. The IPL trading window opens on December 22.
“Franchises shall have opportunities during the trading window to trade players — either by offering to sell a player via trade or expressing an interest to acquire a player — prior to any trading discussions the player’s consent must be obtained,” the statement read.”Negotiations between two franchises should be only with regard to the player fee payable. The other terms of the Player Contract (for example the period of the contract) may not be varied,” the statement added.
“This meeting on the Player Trading Regulations is an important step in helping franchises redress the integral balance of their playing squads to make them more competitive,” IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said in a statement.”I am certain that the trading window set to open on Monday will see some active trading, which will only result in significantly improving the competitiveness of the franchises, making for an even more exhilarating and action packed season for the IPL fans in 2009,” he added.
Apart from finalising the date of auction, it was decided that the number of international players in the playing XI of the participating teams will remain four. The IPL also decided not to allow temporary replacements by teams during the season.”The maximum number of international players in each squad will be 10. However, the number of international players in the playing eleven would remain constant at four,” the IPL said.
“Squads will not be allowed temporary replacements from 2009 onwards to cover partial unavailability of a player during the season. The only temporary replacements allowed will be in the situation where a player is completely unavailable for a whole IPL season,” the statement read.
On the players’ salary cap, the IPL said, “The 2008 salary cap will cease to have effect and no unused amount of the 2008 purse can be used in 2009.””There will be no cap on player fees payable to players acquired by the franchises during the trading window. The trading window is only for players who were part of the IPL in 2008.”During the trading of players on December 22, if more than one franchise is interested in buying a player, the selling franchise will negotiate with all interested.
“The selling franchise shall have the discretion as to which offer to accept. Each Franchise is restricted to purchasing a maximum aggregate of a total of four overseas and Team India players during the trading window subject always to the IPL squad composition rules. There is no limit on the number of players that a franchise can sell,” the IPL said.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting, currently under fire for his tactics in the lost series in India, said he could not imagine giving up international cricket to play the Indian Premier League but doubts if that would be the case with everyone.
“If the IPL keeps growing … the next generation might opt for franchise over country. Everyone in the game should work towards ensuring that never happens,” he wrote in his new book Captain’s Diary 2008: A Season of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20 to be released on Thursday.
Ponting said if the IPL is extended players will be under pressure to choose one form of the game over another.”It will be tougher to retain the public’s interest [in Tests] and eventually the golden goose will be no more,” he said. Ponting said the money on offer from the IPL will make it difficult for some players to continue representing their countries.
“We cannot afford to lose teams such as New Zealand and the West Indies from international cricket, but my fear is that this could happen if the game cannot strike a balance between Tests and ODIs and the IPL’s riches,” he said. “Unless such a balance can be achieved, I could see some countries’ cricket teams declining in the way Zimbabwe’s sides have struggled over the past few years.”
West Indies players also have an option of playing in the Twenty20 league launched by billionaire Allen Stanford, who recently put up US $ 20 million for a single Twenty20 match between England and his Stanford All Stars team.
“The best cricketers in the game want to keep representing their country, but if it’s going to be costing them [a lot of] money then there are tough decisions ahead for players and also for administrators,” he said.
Ponting has come in for a lot of flak after Australia went down 2-0 in the four-Test series in India. The world’s number one team were beaten by a margin of two Tests or more for the first time since their 3-1 defeat against West Indies in 1988-89.
Source: rediff.com
England’s top players hope a meeting in India on Saturday can pave the way for them to play in next season’s Indian Premier League.Giles Clarke and David Collier of the England and Wales Cricket Board will meet IPL chairman Lalit Modi.Players’ chief Sean Morris told BBC Sport: “Most England players have had discussions with IPL franchises.” But the IPL haven’t announced their fixtures yet and we don’t definitely know England’s commitments.”
He added: “The IPL has been a great success and any top cricketer would want to compete in it.” As things stand, players will find it very difficult to play in the IPL, because the Indian competition’s fixtures will clash with England’s. And they do not want to sign their central contracts until this is clarified. The IPL is expected to run from 10 April to the end of May, while England play their final one-day match against the West Indies on 3 April and then begin their proposed Test series against Sri Lanka on 7 May. But Sri Lanka’s tour is not expected to go ahead because 13 of their top players are playing in the IPL.
If their tour is scrapped, the West Indies are waiting in the wings to deputise and play a two-Test series, just weeks after England have returned from playing a three-Test series out there. Modi reiterated that he will not allow England players to play in only a handful of IPL matches. “That does not work for us,” he told BBC Sport. “They have to be available for a substantial period for them to be in the auction over the next two years. That’s what the next contract period will be. “I am told the England players are quite eager to take part, as one would expect any player anywhere in the world to be. And yes, they have had talks with a few of the franchises.”
The fixture clash has created an impasse that Modi and the ECB hope to resolve on Saturday. ECB spokesman Andrew Walpole refused to comment on the meeting when contacted by BBC Sport. But it is understood Collier and Clarke will push for the IPL to be moved back a couple of weeks to accommodate England players, who have still not signed their central contracts because of the uncertainty they face. “The guys are keen to get the central contracts signed and we are 99% of the way there,” Morris said. “We are just waiting on a few little details. We are basically waiting for Clarke and Collier to get back from India.
“The Stanford and IPL windows are new things that have never been there before, it’s a new workload. We don’t know what the calendar is going to be for next year and are waiting to be told. “Until then, we don’t know what the guys are committing to in signing the contracts and we need that to be clarified. The players themselves are pretty comfortable about the situation.” Manoj Badale, the owner of the winners of the IPL tournament, Rajasthan, said he hoped this weekend’s meeting would resolve the position regarding England’s players.
“We have decided to hold off approaching England players until we get clarification, but have been led to believe there might be some clarification after this weekend,” he told BBC Sport. The 2009 IPL player auction is due to take place in January.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Colombo (PTI): Sri Lanka Cricket’s bid to stop its players from participating in next year’s Indian Premier League is not a surprise for the players’ association here, which alleged SLC made a similar effort last year to put a spoke in the wheel of the IPL-bound cricketers.
Sri Lankan Players Association (SLPA) Graeme Labrooy said SLC doing everything to stop the players from playing in next year’s IPL was not a one-off incident. “Unfortunately even this year, SLC tried its best to schedule a tournament in Pakistan during the IPL even after permission was given to the players to sign for IPL. So we don’t see it as one-off,” Labrooy said.
“We are handling matters with Sri Lanka Cricket on a daily basis and I would say that players have signed a three-year contract (with IPL) and the board was aware of it. That is why I think the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge has taken right steps of releasing the players to play for the IPL,” Labrooy said.
According to him, despite the bitterness stemming from SLC’s hardline stance against its Indian counterpart, BCCI’s USD 40 million bailout proposal was still on. “Definitely there is hope to revive (the offer),” Labrooy said. “They (the BCCI officials) did not say the deal is off. It is still on. But let us get our relationship on the road,” Labrooy said.
The offer involved Sri Lanka’s participation in the Champions Twenty20 League for the next 10 years and was put forward by the BCCI as a solution for the loss Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) might incur due to the aborted England tour next year.
Source: hindu.com
