ICC needs to address ICL issue soon - Cairns

Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand allrounder, says the ICC needs to step in soon before players from countries like New Zealand and West Indies opt en masse for the lucrative contracts in the the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) over the contracts with their home boards.

New Zealand are already reeling from the impact of the exodus, with players like Craig McMillan, Shane Bond and Lou Vincent joining Cairns, who had already retired from international cricket, in the ICL. Presently, a player joining the ICL is potentially banned from playing for his country, and also first-class cricket.

"New Zealand is going to be susceptible to that because of our pay structure," Cairns told Bigstarcricket.com. "If there was a 10% discrepancy or even 20% discrepancy between what you could earn playing over in India against your yearly wage [in New Zealand] then players would consider staying," he said. "But when you are talking a 200% difference, no person in their right mind could turn that down - that's the reality."

Cairns has called upon the ICC to create a window for the ICL and the IPL, besides revoking the bans on players joining the ICL. "The ICC are going to have to fix this - it is not a New Zealand Cricket issue, it's an ICC issue. I just hope that they create a window for players to be able to do it [play ICL and not be banned] - ICL and IPL," Cairns said. "West Indies will have this problem too, any country in fact where players are not that well remunerated.

"You have Australia, India and England earning well but even then how long can someone like Kevin Pietersen turn down £600,000 for 40 days' work? These are the dilemmas that are going to start to happen, though we might not see it for a year's time until everybody comes off contract with their national boards."

New Zealand Cricket had recently announced a pay rise for its contracted players in a bid to prevent more players from being lured by the hefty sums waiting to be earned in India.