KEY POINTS:
Daniel Vettori has welcomed the financial transparency over player payments for the Indian Premier League next year.
The International Cricket Council-sanctioned Twenty20 competition next April will include five New Zealand players - captain Vettori, Stephen Fleming, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum.
The sign-on guarantees for 34 players - topped by former Australian spin great Shane Warne at US$400,000, with Fleming second equal with another recently-retired Australian Glenn McGrath at US$350,000 - became public knowledge on the day of the second Chappell/Hadlee Trophy match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Vettori, who will pocket a guaranteed US$250,000, is pleased there won't be any furtiveness over who is getting what, even though players have the potential to pick up significant bonuses in a variety of forms.
"Ideally you wouldn't want it on the day of a game, but it almost gets it out into the open," he said.
"Now we don't have to have all the subterfuge about it. The guys know what's going on and we work from there."
National cricket boards will have first call on the players if there is a clash between the IPL and international commitments, which raises the question of just how much Twenty20 cricket the New Zealand quintet will play.
New Zealand finish the third test against England in Napier on March 26, and start their tour of England on April 27 at Arundel Castle against the McC.
Although the IPL fits into that gap, it's a 44-day programme and will end well into the English tour.
Allow a couple of days for players to get from New Zealand to India, and the same to travel from India to England and the IPL franchises, who will bid for the services of other players, will have to weigh up whether they will get value for money from the New Zealanders.
Vettori accepts there's no getting round that situation.
"It may be too tough. We've just got to wait and see," he said..
"We all know our New Zealand commitments come first and foremost ahead of any IPL stuff. If we can fit in it, then you do, if you can't then New Zealand comes first."
There are a couple of aspects New Zealand Cricket will be pondering.
One is whether to allow some of the five a dispensation to arrive in England later than the rest of the tour party if their franchise is in with a chance of winning the IPL title.
Another is what shape the players will be in after they arrive from India.
They will have completed five months solid cricket, then go to the heat and humidity of India for several weeks, before moving straight into the distinctly different environment and climate of England.
But that's the lot of the modern international cricketer and with a bulging programme, plus the likelihood of more Twenty20 competitions, it'll be busier before it gets easier for players.
Vettori admits he's looking forward to the prospect of playing with new faces in a fresh competition.
"For me, as a cricketer it's pretty exciting, getting to go and play with another group of guys, while it doesn't hinder our New Zealand commitments."
