KP, Flintoff to give 10% to their counties

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have agreed to a 10% county cut or in other words they have agreed to pay their respective counties 10% of their potential earnings from the Indian Premier League after England's cricketers were given a 21 day window to take part in the lucrative IPL that will rule them out of the start of the English season.

"It's something the players are supportive of," Sean Morris, the chief executive of the PCA, told the Guardian. "One game's absence could net a county a fair bit of money, so commercially it makes sense. The counties would probably prefer it that way round than having a player for one game that he might not have played in anyway."

Pietersen is projected to earn almost US$650,000 on a pro-rata basis for his three weeks' work, which would net his county a valuable £46,000.

© Cricbuzz

Pawar says counties can play ICL rebels

New Delhi: There's a new twist in the BCCI versus English counties battle over rebel ICL players participating in the proposed Twenty20 Champions League.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar says that all teams participating in the event have the freedom to include players of their choice. But there is a rider. Pawar says the BCCI would then take its own decision on the matter.

That turns back the heat on the ECB, the only board to allow rebel players to play in domestic competition.

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi had earlier said that any team with ICL players will be automatically disqualified.

The ECB has said that it would wait for the rules to be framed before taking a stand.
Meanwhile, The Indian Express has learnt that the International Cricket Council has been advised by lawyers to amend some of its existing rules in order to prevent more leagues like the ICL from coming up and challenge its authority.

The Indian Cricket League, owned by the Zee Group, is already two T20 tournaments old and has long applied to the ICC to recognise it as "official". While the ICC had indicated that the ICL had to seek the same via the Indian Cricket Board, the BCCI has only furthered its plight by deeming it "rebel".

The ICL organisers have already indicated that they will go to court against the BCCI and the ICC.

Sheridans, a UK-based law firm, has reportedly advised the ICC to amend its rule pertaining to the "official and unofficial status" of cricket events, because the original rules were made for events relating to "one-off testimonial and exhibition matches (such as Asia XI versus Rest of the World XI)".

Cricket's governing body has been recommended to amend those regulations to "deal with domestic T20 events and rebel domestic leagues expressly."

The paper has also learnt that even the BCCI has asked the ICC to amend these regulations.

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