AUSTRALIAN players have threatened not to sign contracts with Cricket Australia next year if the board deducts 10% from their Indian Premier League salaries. The IPL governing council, in a meeting on Sunday to discuss the rules and regulations for the fourth season of the league, had ruled that 10% of players’ salaries would go to their respective boards.
The Australian Cricketers Association chief executive Paul Marsh told the Australian: “The Australian Cricketers Association has made it known to Cricket Australia 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.”
He added: “CA simply has no right to effectively charge a commission on income earned by players from outside their employment to CA.
“Should they seek to do so, we would expect players to give serious consideration to either not signing an IPL contract that contains this deduction, or not signing future CA contracts.”
Cricket Australia, the governing body of the game in the country, presently deducts 2.5% of players’ IPL salaries.
Marsh urged CA to not honour the deal, stating, “Regardless of the decision made by the IPL, we would hope CA would act in good faith to its players by not taking this proposed 10%.”
The latest move by the BCCI to deal directly with the boards has been understood to be aimed at keeping player agents out of the loop.
BCCI president Shashank Manohar had earlier told Indian newspaper DNA: “All player contracts will now be managed by BCCI and signed by BCCI along with the franchise and the player.
“A new player registration and contract management process will be detailed soon. No player contracts can be signed until then. Player regulation for the 2011 season will be circulated soon to all franchisees which will detail the player contract, registration and signing process.”