Cricket: Trio on verge of more riches

Black Cap Ross Taylor turned out for the Bangalore Royal Challengers during this year's IPL. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand's three highest-rated cricketers are among a group of 30 players listed at the top reserve price of US$400,000 ($535,000) for April's Indian Premier League.

Captain Dan Vettori, and senior batsmen Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum make the head of a list of 416 players in whom interest has been expressed by at least one of the 10 franchises for the fourth edition of the T20 tournament.

The auction, to be held in Bangalore on January 8-9, allows teams a US$9 million budget. Defending champions the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians have retained four overseas players and are restricted to spending "only" US$4.5 million.

The Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, both of whom the Indian board tried to drum out of the competition only to be overturned by the Bombay High Court, have to deposit US$20.83 million and US$32.77 million respectively by January 3.

Among the 30 is West Indian great Brian Lara, who retired from international cricket four years ago. The top 30 includes two other retired players - Adam Gilchrist and Anil Kumble.

Once again, there are no Pakistanis in the auction, which smacks of politics as much as anything else.

The 30 is notable for five newcomers from England, who won this year's World T20 championship in the Caribbean: James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright and Mike Yardy.

The IPL will comprise 10 teams - the newcomers are from Kochi and Pune - playing 74 games and due to start in early April.