Cairns enticed by 'lucrative' deal

Chris Cairns joined the Indian Cricket League because the money was too good to turn down. Cairns was one of several New Zealanders who signed with the ICL last week, along with Hamish Marshall, Nathan Astle and Chris Harris.

"It's a lucrative deal," Cairns told the Press. "It's something which has brought me out of retirement and to do that it has to be worth it. The competition is also a chance to have one last go playing in front of heaps of people."

Cairns, 37, has not played international cricket since February 2006 and he knows he has some work ahead of him to prepare for the Twenty20 league. "If it was 50 overs, four-dayers or five-day Tests there's no way I could do that," he said. "But bowling four overs and having a slog suits me down to the ground."

"I'll have to train appropriately. I've had mixed emotions over it. It's such a good offer that I thought I will have to train again - I thought I'd finished with that garbage. I'd done it for so long and thought 'I can now kick back' but now I have to get serious because I want to acquit myself professionally."

Cairns did not reveal how much he was being paid to play in the ICL but said reports of a $500,000 deal were not accurate.