No confusion over player contracts, says Dalmiya

Jagmohan Dalmiya is confident there will be no confusion this time around © AFP

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Indian board, has said that there would be no confusion over player contracts during forthcoming ICC tournaments. The Press Trust of India reports that the players and the board have agreed that the terms followed during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa would be followed for the time being.

The lead up to the last World Cup was dogged by the controversy of several leading Indian cricketers refusing to sign an ICC contract that would allow them to take part in the tournament as the new contract raised conflicts with pre-existing contracts the players held with individual sponsors. This centred mainly around the clause that stipulated that players could not endorse any product that was in competition with the official sponsors of the ICC tournament for a period of 30 days on either side of the tournaments. This was later amended to apply only for the duration of the tournament.

Dalmiya, speaking on the eve of his departure to London to attend the annual ICC meeting, said that there was no confusion now, and that all parties involved knew exactly what the procedure was. During the last World Cup the ICC's executive committee decided to enforce a contract with altered terms that meant that the anti-ambush marketing clauses in place would apply only for the duration of the tournament. Also, the imaging clause, which allowed the official sponsors to use images of players, has been restricted to a duration of three months after an ICC tournament.

This latest statement from Dalmiya reassures sponsors and players that the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England will proceed smoothly and that there will not be a repeat of what happened last year.