No to ICL says NZC

New Zealand Cricket today confirmed its position on the proposed Indian Cricket League banning contracted players from taking part.

“The proposed ICL league would be an unofficial rebel tournament not sanctioned by either the ICC or the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Events such as the ICL could have the potential to compete with official international events and erode their value. In this regard we also have concerns over other events such as the proposed Stanford tournament in the West Indies,” NZC CEO Justin Vaughan said.

“New Zealand Cricket, and indirectly our professional player group, depends upon the value of the media rights associated with official international events to provide a majority of our income. It is therefore in the best interests of New Zealand Cricket not to support unofficial events such as the ICL.

“Added to this, the proposed rebel league is scheduled to directly conflict with the BLACKCAPS tour to South Africa as well as the start of our State domestic season. We have considered this issue carefully and have concluded that New Zealand Cricket cannot agree to release our contracted players to participate in the ICL.

“We have entered into these contracts in good faith and stand by our players through their contract period. We expect players to treat us the same way.

“I have worked closely with the New Zealand Cricket Players Association during this period, and they understand and support our position in principle.

“We value our positive relationship with our players and the Players Association and I have communicated with our players to ensure they understand the reason for New Zealand Cricket’s position and why it is in the best interests of the sport.

“It is important to note that at this point in time no contracted player has approached NZC for a release to participate in the ICL competition.

“It appears that the Twenty20 tournament being proposed by the BCCI may present opportunities for both NZC and for NZC contracted players to participate in an endorsed competition, although it is too early to discuss details of this. Like the ICL we also need to be careful when considering this proposed competition to ensure participation is in the best interests of New Zealand Cricket. We expect more information to become public in the coming weeks,” he said.