Thaindian News

Wellington, July 24 (IANS) New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Friday confirmed that all 20 players, including the six contracted with the Indian Premier League (IPL), have signed its international playing agreements.
NZC Chief Executive Justin Vaughan said that all the six IPL players - captain Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor - were granted an extension to confirm their contracts, and all had now signed, “sacrificing significant sums of money”.

The move came in order to sort out the conflicts between the Black Caps international programme and the IPL.

The 2010 IPL, clashes with a significant part of Australia’s scheduled tour to New Zealand after it was moved into March to accommodate the World Twenty20.

“The final dates for the Australian tour are still to be confirmed,” said Vaughan in a statement on NZC website. “But it is obvious that with the early commencement to the IPL in 2010 there will be a significant overlap.”

“However, all our players with IPL contracts who were offered a New Zealand Cricket contract have now signed. This is an admirable decision by each of these individuals and they should be applauded for it. By signing their contracts they are sacrificing significant sums of money.

“Their decision helps to reinforce international cricket as the pinnacle of our sport, and clearly shows that representing New Zealand remains the biggest motivating factor for our leading players.”

“We appreciate this issue may recur again and the onus is on international cricket to proactively search for solutions so that players are not forced to make such difficult decisions in the future.”

Vaughan said discussions with players and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association throughout the past two weeks had been positive and constructive.