Clarke, Warner set to get multi-million dollar offers from breakaway league?

Thu, Apr 30 2015
Last updated on Friday, 01 May, 2015, 01:05 AM

Michael Clarke and David Warner could be offered $ (A) 50 million deals to join the lucrative new T20 league, backed by the Essel Group. © Getty

Australia's World Cup winning captain Michael Clarke and explosive opening batsman David Warner could be offered $ (A) 50 million deals to join the lucrative new T20 league, backed by the Essel Group, Sydney Morning Herald has reported. Both players could be offered 10-year contracts to join the league, it said. However, neither player was available for comments.

This new revelation strengthens rumours of a breakaway governing body for world cricket.

Some years ago, the Essel Group, which owns the Zee TV network and Ten Sports, launched the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL). It now has registered companies with names similar to rival national cricket boards, prompting the International Cricket Council to launch an urgent investigation.

Besides registering 250 web domains, including globalt20.com, the Essel Group has registered companies like New Zealand Cricket Limited, Kiwi Cricket Limited, Aotearoa Cricket Limited (Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand), Cricket Control Scotland Limited and Australia Cricket Control Limited, The Guardian had reported on Friday.

Though the group has reportedly not settled payments to all players who figured in ICL, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations Chief Executive Tony Irish has warned that many players would be tempted to sign up with the breakaway body due to financial reasons.

"There is always going to be interest from players in events irrespective of what history has occurred," Irish said. "Obviously there will be some reticence from players based on what has happened but I don't think you can discount the fact that players will be interested."

Former FICA chief Tim May was quoted as saying that the recent restructure of ICC financial model that heavily favours India, England and Australia had led to several organisations mulling the idea of getting into cricket administration.

"There is a general dissatisfaction with the game's governance, how it's run and the inequity of the game's finances and there are other bodies around that would believe they can globalise the game of cricket in a more equitable fashion than the current administration," May said.

May reckoned that ICC would have to be on its toes to stave off competition. "If the current administration really wants to protect the game, they should look within to see how they can improve their own administration rather than blaming others who merely want to be competitive," he said.

"Any organisation that doesn't meet the highest standards, whether in corporate or sporting worlds, if there are doubts about the integrity of their leaders, if they're doubts about how they distribute finances, they're always going to be up for some sort of battle against someone who wants to do the right thing and that is probably what's happening in cricket," he said.