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Champions League: The biggest showdown

R. Mohan

Not for nothing will the first Champions League come to be known as the biggest showdown in cricket. It will be one of the biggest paydays in the game for the teams that play in the final later this year. The honour of being involved in the truly biggest payday in cricket history will follow soon enough when England play Allen Stanford’s All Star West Indies XI on November 1 in Antigua, with the winner to take all of $20 million.

While the sums being thrown at cricketers these days are mind-boggling, the game is set to become even more complicated than the string of zeroes in the prize cheques. The English counties fired a broadside at Lalit Modi’s diktat that ICL players should not be picked by playing whoever they have signed on Wednesday, the opening day of the Twenty20 Cup in the UK.

The cricket establishment will soon have to face a big showdown on the rebel league issue. While only three English counties do not have rebels in their ranks — making 13 of them ineligible to play the Champions League if they make it to their home finals — some are trying to sign on more rebels (Chris Cairns may play for Nottinghamshire) to strengthen their sides and their chances of making it to the mother of all county paydays.

At least one cricketer — Nic Pothas of Hampshire — has threatened to sue the ECB if his county qualifies for the Champions Trophy and is then declared ineligible because he is a member of the team. There are very serious issues here of a sportsman’s right to pursue a profession, which was once again established when counties had to back down after having to settle the matter in court last month.

While Modi, one of the architects of a dream built upon a dream idea of a Champions League bet-ween winners of domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia, South Africa and England, has no option but to toe the official BCCI line on the Subash Chandra-sponsored ICL, the legality of any such ban under UK law is highly suspect.

With the precedent of a ruling by Justice Slade in the ’70s, it was rather simple for the ICL players to approach the courts in Britain this summer and earn the right to ply their profession. Slade was clear that any ban was a "restraint of trade" and cricket has gone by that dictum for 30 years since the Packer schism ended, with the media tycoon laughing his way to the bank since he had the cricket television rights served to him on a platter.

The counties that qualify for the Champions League can be expected to pull out on payday if they are not allowed the freedom to play the XI that would have brought them to an apogee. The IPL commissioner would be left red-faced if the field in the competition were reduced to six teams from eight. In fact, Lancashire went out of the way to assure ICL’s Stuart Law that his services were very much required after the player had offered to withdraw if that would ease the path of his county.

The other issues thrown up by multi-million dollar tournaments sponsored by the cash-rich BCCI that dictates to the cricket world now may seem minor in comparison. It appears any clash of loyalties will be decided in favour of IPL franchises, which means Albie Morkel would have to play for Chennai Super Kings rather than the Titans of Pretoria, the team that not only nurtured him but also helped nurse him through injuries. By offering to name a fee to buy loyalty, the IPL might have cheapened the whole process. How could anyone contemplate putting a price on something like club loyalty, even if the IPL is buying loads more money to Morkel than the Titans ever did? Australia’s international commitments would mean that Michael Hussey may be out of the Champions League equation as he too would otherwise have had to choose between Chennai Super Kings and his home state of Western Australia.

To wish to dominate cricket affairs when most of the revenue is flowing from India would seem logical enough. How far the mandarins of the Indian board can take the matter remains to be seen. The ICL is seen as a rebel series only in Indian eyes while everyone else has been happy enough to play where they wanted and take home their pay cheque. The power of money may win in the end but there are times when it does seem there are issues well above putting a price on everything in sport.