MUMBAI: Former New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle on Monday sounded skeptical on whether the BCCI-backed Indian Premier League will succeed in bringing top foreign players due to the packed international calendar.
   
“IPL (floated by the Indian Cricket Board), Indian Cricket League (of which Astle is a part of) and the Stanford League are all very good for the game. But I am not sure how it can bring together so many players here in India (for 44 days) with the packed calendar,” he said today.

Astle, who is part of the ICL’s Mumbai Champs team, said he did not get an offer from the IPL after he chucked away his international career in January prior to the World Cup, adding ICL would benefit young Indian cricketers.

“I threw it away (international career) in January itself. I am sure the young Indian cricketers will learn by playing with or against people like (Brian) Lara, Chris Cairns, myself and other ex-international players. This is applicable to Twenty20 games too, the learning process,” he said at the Western Railway ground in Mahalakshmi.
   
The 36-year-old former opener, who considers the back-to-back Test hundreds he struck in the West Indies against the pace attack of Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose and Ian Bishop in 1996 as something very special He feels his retirement besides those of Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns is impacting New Zealand team.

“I am passionate about New Zealand cricket. I feel it will take two years for the team to recover following the retirement of Chris Cairns, McMillan and myself,” he said.

Astle, scorer of 4702 runs in 81 Tests and 7090 runs in 222 ODIs, trashed the revolutionary idea of former Australian team’s coach John Buchanan to allow players to choose the country for which they wanted to play.

“I know where it’s coming from. It needs to be thrown out the window. I don’t think any cricketer from any country would want to play for any other country,” he declared.

He also hit out at former Australian hockey skipper Ric Charlesworth for trying to induct methods alien to New Zealand players’ culture within a short period of two years as New Zealand Cricket’s high performance manager.
   
“Good luck to you people. I heard he’s here (to advise Indian hockey officialdom). He tried to change too much in our cricket in too short a time. Australians are confident by nature and we, Kiwis, are reserved,” he said with a smile.
   
The ex-New Zealand player felt that Twenty20 format was the ideal one to help spread the game to places like China and the America.
   
“It’s a good format for spreading the game to China and America. It’s exciting and gets over in three and a half hours. It has rejuvenated cricket in rugby-mad New Zealand and has brought in the younger generation,” he said.
   
But he also cautioned the authorities not to go for an overkill by playing too many Twenty20 internationals leading to fans’ disinterest as is the case with 50-over games.
   
“But the organisers need to be careful that there’s not too much of this thing and prevent overkill as is happening now (in 50-over games). One match is followed by another within two days,” said Astle who has signed a two-year contract with the ICL.

MUMBAI – West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, batsman Chris Gayle and three South African cricketers have signed up for the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL), organisers said on Wednesday.

The South African trio who have joined the Twenty20 league which is due to start next April are all rounder Jacques Kallis, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini and wicket-keeper-batsman Mark Boucher.

The latest signings takes the list of international players to 49.

Promoted by the Indian cricket board with support from other major national boards, the IPL was launched to counter an unofficial Indian Twenty20 league due to start on November 30.

The 44-day IPL event will feature eight franchises in the inaugural season with each squad containing 16 players. They will play home and away games leading up to a grand final.

South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini were among the five foreign players who on Wednesday signed for the $3 million Indian Premier League (IPL), the Indian cricket board announced.

West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and his teammate and ace opener Chris Gayle were the other two who have signed to play in April, in India, in a Twenty20 tournament, which has the backing of the International Cricket Council.

With these five, the total number of players who have signed up for the IPL has gone up to 49, said Lalit Modi, IPL chairman and commissioner and also a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

“I am happy to state that we have completed the first phase by signing some of the best international talent available,” he said in a statement.

“IPL had publicly promised the Indian cricket fans of delivering high voltage Twenty20 cricket action through some of the most talented international and national cricketers,” he added.

Modi said he is also encouraged by the response from potential franchisees who will be buying stakes in the IPL.

“The response from potential franchisees for owning an IPL team has also been quite overwhelming and I am certain we will have some very interesting announcements to make in the days and weeks ahead,” he said.

IPL will feature eight teams in the first season, with each team playing seven home and away games against one another with 56 matches to be played in total.

After the league matches four teams would play in the semi-finals. A grand final would be played toward the end of April. The IPL hopes to grow to 16 teams by 2010.

Each team would have a squad of 16 players registered with the BCCI and drawn from its central contract pool.

Moreover, each team will also feature both under-21 players and designated players, who could be either Indians or foreigners.

All matches will be played under floodlights at BCCI-designated stadiums across the country for a total prize purse of $3 million, making it the richest cricket tournament in the world.

SYDNEY • Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe and friend Peter Holmes are all set to buy a franchise in the newly launched Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket event, a report said here yesterday. Crowe and Holmes, who own the South Rugby League Club, may well hire players like Australian captain Ricky Ponting and fiery paceman Brett Lee to play for the Rabittohs cricket side in Indian city of Mumbai next year, a report in the Sun-Herald reported. The proposed alliance between Souths and the IPL continues a fresh approach to sporting investment by Crowe and Holmes a Court. They have announced a plan to abolish poker machines inside the Souths football club and the Rabbitohs have been the subject of a six-part documentary.

The Souths, a football club of considerable merit, is tinkering with the idea of launching a cricket side to take part in IPL, which commences with a Twenty20 event next year in April. Earlier this year the club formed a ‘global partnership’ with English club Leeds. The two clubs will play a trial match in Jacksonville, Florida, on Australia Day next year. Crowe’s global appeal as an Academy Award winning actor has allowed Souths to try things other clubs could only dream about. He had prime time on ESPN’s top rating Monday Night Football show to talk about his efforts to rebuild the Rabbitohs and their US trial match, the report added.

Organisers of the IPL are seeking applications by potential owners or investors in franchises, which will contest a Twenty20 tournament in India next April. The top two teams from the IPL, as well as those from Twenty20 competitions in Australia, England and South Africa will enter an international Champions Twenty20 league. That league will offer $5m in prize money to the winners.

NEW DELHI – India’s new-found fascination for Twenty20 cricket has turned into a tug-of-war as money, power and court battles overshadow the country’s most popular sport. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is determined to be the sole crusader of the lucrative crowd-pulling Twenty20 format in cricket-mad India despite its secretary Niranjan Shah earlier describing Twenty20 as a “waste of time.”

This apparent change of heart had nothing to do with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young Team India winning the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September, an event Indian officials once strongly opposed.

It had everything to do with the unveiling in May of the unofficial multi-million-dollar so-called rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), bankrolled by the country’s largest media group, Zee Telefilms.A rattled BCCI banned cricketers signing up to the ICL from representing the country, forcing the rebel body to file an ongoing case challenging the BCCI’s monopoly over the sport.

The BCCI also drew up its own three-million-dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) with the blessing of the International Cricket Council and supported by boards around the world.And so began a game of oneupmanship, lapped up greedily by the media and showing no signs of abating with no apparent concern for the effects it could have on players, their international commitments and the sport in India.

The Zee-backed ICL presented India’s only World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev as its chief executive, while the BCCI’s IPL paraded the country’s other legend, Sunil Gavaskar, and popular commentator Ravi Shastri as members of its governing council.At the moment the IPL is seemingly winning the battle in terms of getting star players to sign up.

It says it has on board Test captains Graeme Smith of South Africa, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan and the entire Team India.The IPL also persuaded ICL’s main draw, Pakistani star batsman Mohammad Yousuf, to break his contract with the rebel league and sign up with the official body, prompting the ICL to serve legal papers on the player.

The best the ICL has managed so far are retired international stars, headed by West Indian great Brian Lara and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq, along with a slew of domestic has-beens.Both leagues — despite obvious deep pockets — have found it easier to sign up big names than finalise start dates and other details of the events they plan to stage.

The only real concrete fact is that both leagues will feature Twenty20 matches between franchised teams made up of international players and young promising Indians.The ICL may begin in November and the BCCI is looking to start the IPL in April next year, although like much in this saga, nothing is certain.

The beleaguered Asia Cup limited-overs tournament, already put off twice before and now scheduled to be held in Pakistan in April-May, faces an uncertain future if the IPL is held at the same time and there are concerns the players may end up playing too much cricket.Unsurprisingly, not everyone is impressed at the potential impact the leagues could have on cricket.

“If the proto-typical young cricketer is happy signing up for IPL franchises and making his money there, is he going to bother playing five-day cricket?”, veteran columnist Ashok Malik said.Cricinfo, the game’s leading website, said: “Money could make Twenty20 the most lucrative form of cricket any aspiring cricketer wants to play.

“So what that would do to cricket skills and talent pools for longer versions of the game is anyone’s guess.“Also, it could change the way we look at cricket. Teams based on regional affiliations will be replaced by teams based on commerce, players playing not for local pride but for top dollar.

“That’s how football has grown in the last 20 years — and not everyone’s happy with the shape it’s in today.”

Sunday, 16 September , 2007, 19:07 
 
Melbourne: Legendary Shane Warne has signed with the Indian Premier League, for “significantly less” amount than what was reportedly offered to him by the rebel ICL, media reports said today.

Warne has inked the deal for less than USD 600,000, the minimum figure reportedly offered by the Indian Cricket League, which would add to the credibility of the IPL, according to Australian daily ‘Syndey Morning Herald’ today.

“However, marketing opportunities and a bidding war between the eight IPL franchises could see him earn more than USD 1 million for a month’s work,” it said.

The report said Warne was on the verge of signing with the ICL, but negotiations in the past 72 hours clinched the signature of the spin bowling great, Glenn McGrath and recently deposed New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.

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McGrath and Fleming were paraded during the BCCI meeting last week to announce the IPL and the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which would be conducted in partnership with Australian, England and South African boards.

Fleming also took a big sign-on cut to join the IPL, the paper said.

Warne will continue to play for Hampshire in the England county competition, where he has another year remaining on his contract. He will leave in April to join a franchised IPL club in India, where he will play between 10 and 14 games of Twenty20 over 30 to 40 days.

If his Indian team finishes in the top two, Warne may represent that team at the 10-day international Champions Twenty20 League, though that is yet to be confirmed – he could still be offered to the highest bidder.