Modi, IMG planning to sue Clarke

London:  The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief Giles Clarke is on the backfoot as suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi and the International Management Group (IMG) are planning to sue him over claims that Modi encouraged counties to form a breakaway Twenty20 league in England.

London's The Times revealed yesterday that Clarke's letter to Shashank Manohar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has angered Test match counties whose representatives met Modi in New Delhi on March 31.

IMG has denied wrongdoing in helping to set up the meeting between Modi and the counties.

"It was stated by IMG and acknowledged by all present prior to this theoretical discussion that the sovereignty and processes of the ECB must at all times be respected as must the relevant rules of all other official bodies including ICC," IMG was quoted as saying by the daily. The daily reported that Colin Graves, the Yorkshire chairman, was "a whistleblower" after he said that he had forwarded minutes of the meeting to keep Clarke in the loop.

Graves, a member of the full ECB board, believes that Clarke misrepresented the purpose of the meeting, which was to learn more about the success of the IPL.

Clarke has far less issue with the counties than with some of Modi's recorded comments at the meeting.

Fully available

The daily said that Modi was planning the league after the football World Cup in South Africa and insisted that the players are made fully available to their franchises for the event, cutting across all national contracts.

It is suggested that Ravi Bopara and Michael Lumb will be offered deals worth $500,000 (Dh1.8 million) a year for three years of the tournament after their performances in this year's IPL.