ICC, BCCI gear up for crucial Dubai meeting

All eyes of the cricketing fraternity will be focussed on Dubai when it plays host to the all-important International Cricket Council's executive committee on August 31 as the game's governing body confronts crucial problems over players' sponsorship contracts.

Dubai was hurriedly selected as the venue for the meeting as the refusal of star players' to sign the contracts which prohibits them from advertising for companies which are rivals to official sponsors of ICC events, threatened to put next month's ICC trophy in Sri Lanka in jeopardy.

There was a glimmer of hope yesterday evening when some agencies quoted the player's representative Ravi Shastri stating that the top Indian players have agreed to sign the contract in the 'interest of the game'.

However, speaking to Gulf News from Leeds, England, last night Shastri denied the report and stated that the players' stand was intact.

"There is a long way to go before any resolution. The ball is still in their (Indian cricket board's) court," said Shastri.

Earlier, speaking to Gulf News from the ICC headquarters in London, Brendan McClements, ICC's General Manager of Corporate Affairs said the August 31 meeting's agenda would certainly be topped by the current situation arising out of the reluctance of top players to sign the player contracts.

Brendan said the ICC's Chief Executive Malcolm Speed would be in Dubai tomorrow to chair a two-day conference on the ICC's Cricket Committee Management meeting.

This will be followed by the Executive Committee meeting on August 31, he said.

"We have decided to meet in Dubai as it is a convenient hub for all cricket-playing countries and also because the ICC has a tie-up with Emirates airline," McClements said.

"I cannot confirm whether the top Indian players have agreed to sign the contracts but during the Dubai meeting the ICC and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have talks over the contentious clauses that give the ICC's commercial sponsors an ambush marketing protection.

Even if all players sign the contracts and the respective cricket boards are able to name their full strength squads, the August 31 meeting is bound to discuss related issues of player contracts for the 2003 World Cup and other ICC events.

The ICC has included a clause that protects its commercial partners by ensuring that players do not endorse products that conflict with the ICC's partners, starting from 30 days before the event and up to 30 days after the event.

The top Indian stars Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were among those who refused to accept this clause in the player's contract as they were bound to lose huge sponsorship amounts.

Meanwhile India's cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya yesterday rubbished an agreement signed by the Australian team, adding a new twist to the ongoing row over player contracts.

"The Australian agreement is the biggest bluff of world cricket," Dalmiya told AFP in New Delhi.

Australian players, who initially opposed the contracts, backed down and decided to take part in the Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka next month after reaching an agreement with the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). The ICC is using the ACB agreement as a model that could be adopted by other countries.

Dalmiya, a former ICC president, termed the Australian agreement an eyewash.

"It hardly provided an immediate solution and would never help the Indian cause," he said. "Our players have the freedom to choose their sponsors," Dalmiya said.

"We can't force them to tell their sponsors to stop promotional activities because they are conflicting with ICC sponsors. It's a violation of their fundamental rights."