That the Indian Premier League (IPL) has divided Australian cricket is a well-known fact — Ricky Ponting himself admitted in his latest captain’s diary that the Aussies fought on the issue of their participation in IPL 3.
Now, a new issue is leading to a divide in the Australian cricket set-up.
The decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to remit 10% of foreign players’ auction fee to their national boards has placed the players and Cricket Australia (CA) in a conflict situation.
Hours after this paper came out with a report on BCCI’s plan, Paul Marsh, chief executive of Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) told the country’s media that the ACA would advise the players not to sign not only the IPL contracts but also the CA contracts.
The players suspect CA had a role in the BCCI’s decision.
When contacted, Marsh admitted that the ACA had made it clear to the CA about their opposition to what they called ‘commission’.
“The ACA has made it known to CA that any attempt to take 10%, or any other amount for that matter, from the IPL salaries of Australian players is completely unacceptable and will be opposed in the strongest possible way by us,” Marsh said in a statement.
“CA simply has no right to effectively charge a ‘commission’ on income earned by players from outside their employment to CA. This is akin to an employer trying to take 10% of an employee’s wages from a second job he works on weekends. Regardless of the decision made by the IPL, we would hope that CA would act in good faith to its players by not taking this proposed 10%.”
The CA, however, said it supported the BCCI move, in principle. “We have not received any advice from the BCCI and do not know what the Indian board plans to do. We do, in principle, support the view that those nations which develop talent which helps the IPL’s success should receive some recognition,” Peter Young, CA’s communications manager, told DNA.
BCCI officials were not immediately available for comment but on Monday its president Shashank Manohar had confirmed to this paper that the board was contemplating the idea of deducting 10% of foreign players’ salaries for their respective national boards.
The BCCI also will be involved in the agreement between the players and the franchise after the auction in November.
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