KEY POINTS:
Confirmation yesterday that Shane Bond has signed a three-year deal to play for the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) has revealed an awkward truth for New Zealand Cricket (NZC) - that for the fast bowler to have signed he must have been released by the national body.
This has created a difficult situation for both NZC and its chief executive Justin Vaughan, who has previously indicated that ICL "rebels" won't be considered for national selection. Yet he is presumably the man who rubber-stamped the move of the best fast bowler New Zealand has produced since Sir Richard Hadlee.
If Bond had not sought a release then he would have been in breach of his NZC contract and the national body would have started misconduct proceedings against him.
As this has not happened the only reasonable assumption is that Bond has the right documentation enabling him to play for the ICL as long as it doesn't cut across his international commitments. The Herald on Sunday sought confirmation of this from Vaughan but he declined to comment.
He will however meet Bond on Tuesday in an 11th-hour attempt to persuade the speedster to renege on his contract to join the ICL, but it is doomed to fail unless the rival Indian Premier League (IPL) increases its offer significantly.
The Herald on Sunday understands Bond's ICL deal is actually worth US$800,000 (NZ$1.04m) per year for a guaranteed three years, regardless of whether he is fit to play; not spread over three years, as has been previously reported.
That equates to NZ$3.12 million, the sort of money no sane man would turn down, let alone an injury-prone 32-year-old with a young family and a career that is much closer to ending than it is starting.
Unless there is a dramatic intervention from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the numbers simply don't stack up. The Indian board, which controls the IPL, is apparently unwilling to budge on an offer of US$250,000 (NZ$324,000) for Bond, money he would receive only if he was fit to play, a figure well below what even Stephen Fleming is set to earn.
Vaughan's mood would not have been lifted by yesterday's report, which quoted ICL official Ashish Kaul as confirming Bond would join the ICL.
"Shane Bond has signed up. It's a three-year contract that he has with the Indian Cricket League," Kaul, the executive vice-president of ICL promoters Essel Group, said.
When contacted in Christchurch yesterday, the Cantabrian politely declined to shed any light on the matter until after he had met with Vaughan.
"There's a few agreements in place that mean I can't really talk at the moment," Bond said. "I'd rather work through those before saying too much."
Bond will become the seventh New Zealand international to join the ICL, which is not sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, though - in a point few have been willing to acknowledge - neither is the IPL. All-rounders Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle, Chris Harris and Craig McMillan, batsman Hamish Marshall and bowler Daryl Tuffey took part in the recent breakaway Twenty20 league.
Vaughan and NZC Players Association manager Heath Mills were engaged in lengthy talks on the first day of the opening test, first at the central Dunedin hotel where the team are staying and later at the ground. Both had left Dunedin by yesterday.
Although Mills was understandably coy about what was discussed, he did say he sympathised with NZC in part because of pressure from the BCCI.
"This is a complex issue. The BCCI is putting a lot of pressure on behind the scenes," he said.
"We are trying to navigate our way through this to get New Zealand cricket in the best position for whatever scenario unfolds. We need to ensure our best players are playing for New Zealand.
"The biggest risk is for the Champions League [a mooted competition involving the top two teams from the IPL and Twenty20 competitions in Australia, England and South Africa] and the IPL to grow at the expense of the Future Tours Programme.
"That has potential to have a significant impact on NZC revenues.
"It's important the players and NZC work together in a way that won't divide the country," Mills said.
Meanwhile, Bond said his comeback from injury was on track. He has been training with Canterbury for the past two weeks and will resume club cricket next weekend.
