A precedent of sorts was set by Kieron Pollard in 2016,when the West Indies board initially blocked him from playing in the South African T20 league as it was attempting to gain fees from other boards in exchange for NOCs. Within days,WICB was forced to back down because Pollard was not centrally contracted at the time,leaving him free to play for Cape Cobras.
CA stated on Tuesday that Lynn had not yet applied for the certificate he requires to be allowed to play,and reiterated that the Australian season was a priority for players. “Our guiding principle remains the prioritisation and protection of Australia’s domestic summer of cricket and the interests of the game overall. As such,[certificates] are generally only issued for the period after the Australian season has finished.”
Under the regulations set by the UAE league,each privately owned team is able to recruit as many as 12 overseas players from full member countries,including Australia,withnine overseas players and only two local players required in the playing XI.
That ratio,a topic of testy discussion at the recent ICC annual conference in Birmingham,has led to calls from Cricket Australia’s chief executive Nick Hockley and others for a cap on the number of overseas players allowed in any league.
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While sanctioned by the UAE cricket board,the Twenty20 league is privately owned by two of its directors. Mubashshir Usmani,the UAE board’s secretary,argued that the new tournament would still be geared at developing cricket in the region,despite its lopsided playing squads.
Moffat said that Twenty20 league pay had outstripped international pay in smaller countries for a long time,and the fact the issue was only now starting to catch up to the likes of Australia and England should be cause for a global summit on scheduling,contracts and the co-existence of domestic leagues and international cricket.
“Global issues require global solutions and we continue to advocate for a balanced global structure for the game that enables domestic leagues and international cricket,which remains the lifeblood of the game,to co-exist,” he said.
“That might require compromise,but given their decisions shape the direction of the game,players should be part of those discussions.”
The likes of Andre Russell,Moeen Ali,Sunil Narine,Colin Munro,Alex Hales,Tom Banton,Sandeep Lamichhane,Colin Ingram and James Vince have all made significant contributions to past editions of the BBL,but now have far more bidders for their time.