NZ Cricket: our stars not at risk
NEW ZEALAND Cricket believes Black Caps stars are not at risk of being poached by organisers of a proposed rebel league – even though administrators across the Tasman remain uneasy about the potential threat to their top players.
Cricket Australia is contemplating locking down its stars to longer-term contracts given the possible threat of a breakaway Twenty20 league being set up by India’s Essel Group.
Essel owner Subhash Chandra charge of the short- lived Indian Cricket League which ended in 2009 owing players nearly NZ$ 2.6 million in unpaid wages. It was also the subject of match- fixing allegations.
But Greg Barclay, New Zealand Cricket’s representative at the ICC, said there was no immediate concern about New Zealand players.
‘‘I don’t think our players are under threat at the moment,’’ he said.
Leanne McGoldrick, the agent for high- profile players – and potential targets – Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson, said she had not been approached by the league about her players and knew nothing more than what had been reported in the media.
New Zealand cricketers are under a master collective agreement that runs through until 2018 but players’ individual contracts are renewed annually. Barclay said that despite the fact players could be targeted on an annual basis, NZC was ‘‘definitely’’ not concerned they would be poached.
Any concerns about the league were ‘‘hype and speculation’’, Barclay said. No venues in New Zealand had been consulted and no players had been approached as far as he was aware.
Barclay, a NZC board member since 2012, said the rebel league was discussed
was
in at an ICC meeting he attended two weeks ago.
New Zealand and other full members of the ICC were taking the issue ‘‘particularly seriously’’.
‘‘ It is quite possible that anyone organised could pick it up and run with it and if they do it, and don’t do it right, it would be particularly damaging to cricket,’’ he added.
The first NZC became aware of potential New Zealand involvement was in December when attempts were made to register company names New Zealand Cricket Ltd and then Kiwi Cricket Ltd. Both were blocked by NZC, but a company was registered on March 11, as ECML Cricket Ltd.
Barclay said NZC also blocked attempts to register the name Aotearoa Cricket Ltd.
Companies had also been registered in Australia, England, Scotland and Canada.
Surveillance was continuing in New Zealand, he said.
‘‘There is nothing more we can do at the moment. It is business as usual. ‘‘The real question is, what does mean? Why are they doing it?’’
The Cricket Australia board met on Friday and chairman Wally Edwards said in a statement that any proposed rebel league would jeopardise the nation’s domestic game.
The pay structure in Australia was aimed at supporting professional cricket at both international and domestic level. ‘‘ The success of international cricket directly subsidises the wages of state cricketers.’’
‘‘But our pay structure is broader than that. It’s about supporting professional cricket at both international and domestic level.
‘‘The success of international cricket directly subsidises the wages of state cricketers. Any proposed rebel league would jeopardise that.’’
in Dubai
it
all Floyd Mayweather Jr is almost certain to retire this year after telling his huge entourage that he will not be able to employ them after his final bout this September.
Mayweather, 38, faces Manny Pacquiao, 36, on Sunday for the WBC, WBA and WBO welterweight titles in the richest fight in history, but he says he will retire in September after fulfilling the final bout of his six-fight multimilliondollar deal with Showtime, the US television network.
Wins over Pacquiao and again in September would stretch his unbeaten run to 49, tying the undefeated record of Rocky Marciano, the world heavyweight champion from the 1950s.
‘‘I cannot be your saviour forever,’’ Mayweather told his people. ‘‘Everything has to end sometime.’’
Mayweather has said he will earn more than NZ$200 million from Sunday’s bout, considerably more than any boxer before him. He says he has invested well with his earnings, believed to be about $500m, despite lavish spending on houses, cars, jewellery, and a plane.
Mayweather and Pacquiao weighed in in front of 11,500 fans on Saturday, promising to deliver on the hype to give fans the excitement they deserve.
Pacquiao, 57-5-2 (38 knockouts), looking relaxed and confident, weighed in less than a kilogram lighter than the undefeated Mayweather, 47-0 (26 KOs), tipping the scales at 145 pounds (65.77kg) for the bout.
After the official weigh-in, the two welterweights staged the traditional stare down, the smaller Pacquiao looking up at Mayweather with a challenging smile, while the stone-faced American stared straight-ahead, unmoved.
‘‘I have been fighting bigger guys like [Antonio] Margarito and [Oscar] De La Hoya,’’ said the Filipino southpaw. ‘‘I feel tomorrow the Lord is always with me and gives me strength.
‘‘I know it’s a great, great responsibility for me to give enjoyment to the fans. Tomorrow the fans deserve to have a great fight.’’
INSIDE
Pacquiao pulls no punches in quest for glory ....................
B8