Cricket: Kiwis chase unpaid Toronto T20 fee

Kyle Mills, one of the 16 Cricketers who have started legal proceedings to reclaim unpaid match fees. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Three leading New Zealand cricketers are among a group of 16 who have started legal proceedings to reclaim unpaid match fees and expenses from an ill-starred venture in Toronto this year.

The players were contracted to play in an All Star T20 match last May by Ontario-based Kat Rose Custom Designs Inc, which organised the event, which had been approved by Cricket Canada.

Notices were served on Kat Rose at the Toronto Small Claims Court for monies totalling about US$113,000 ($137,000).

The three New Zealand players are seamers Kyle Mills and Tim Southee and allrounder Jacob Oram. Others include Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, former Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor and West Indians Tino Best and Devon Smith.

It is understood the New Zealanders were promised fees of just under US$10,000 each.

Organisers blamed the late absence of six Pakistani players, including the popular Shahid Afridi, because of visa issues as the cause of a financial shortfall.

At the time, Boucher posted a message on Twitter which read: "Absolute shambles at the @T20AllStar2012. No players been paid. No organisers here to explain! Disgrace for Canadian cricket! So sad!" He later added: "Doubt any international cricketers will be back here after this."

Kat Rose took individual contracts with all the players for the game, held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, and also included involvement in a gala dinner and a fan autograph session.

"We are incredibly disappointed and distressed by the lack of professionalism of the Kat Rose organisation," said Tim May, chief executive of the international players association. "The players fulfilled their contractual obligations and are now each left out of pocket to the tune of several thousand dollars of their own money."

•There will be no live radio coverage of New Zealand's two tests in Sri Lanka this month. Listeners will only get regular studio updates of the tests, starting in Galle on November 17 and Colombo on November 25. Costs were cited as the reason.

However it is expected there will be live coverage of the tour to South Africa at the end of the year.