Cricket: Vettori says players may choose cash

Daniel Vettori warned that players may not choose country over cash in the future if they are forced to pick between playing for the Black Caps and cashing in on their lucrative IPL contracts.

And he also said the decision might have been different had it been Bangladesh and not Australia touring next March.

On Friday, all six players with IPL contracts - Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder and Kyle Mills - signed their New Zealand Cricket contracts, making themselves available to play Australia.

But a number had sleepless nights as they wrestled with the idea of forgoing their NZC contracts in favour of their IPL ones; worth considerably more to them financially.

They will at least be able to get to India earlier than previously expected with news the Australian series has been cut back from three to two tests to reduce the overlap. It is now expected to finish on March 31.

Vettori, NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan and New Zealand Cricket Players' Association boss Heath Mills yesterday joined forces to reaffirm that international cricket is still the pinnacle of the sport but also implored the ICC to create a window for the world's biggest Twenty20 competition so players didn't have to make similar decisions in the future.

"A lot of guys put a lot of thought into it," Vettori said. "I am only 30 and have a lot of goals I still want to achieve with New Zealand. It's a difficult decision and people have families and other issues to work through but our priority was to play for New Zealand.

"We want to make the most of that and have a successful team. But we realise that if these situations continue to come up it will be difficult for players to continue to turn down the money, so we implore the powers that be to [find a solution] so we don't have to make these decisions every year.

"If Bangladesh were here [rather than Australia] it might have been an easier decision for players. It didn't come into my thinking because my priority is to play for New Zealand."

Vettori's decision was probably the easiest of the six. The position of captaincy means too much to him to miss out on a high-profile series against Australia and he is also mindful of the public backlash he received for turning up late for last year's England tour because of the IPL.

McCullum, though, was asked to forego an estimated $1 million to take on the Aussies. The 27-year-old has a US$700,000 contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders and though he has the chance to earn about half of that next year he can also earn a captaincy fee and associated perks around imaging rights.

Taylor is also on big money but felt he was young enough to get future IPL contracts - a view shared by Ryder, although he is on less than Taylor.

Mills could still find himself in India for the entire Twenty20 competition because he might not be part of the test squad to face Australia but Oram struggled with the decision. He has a US$675,000 contract with the Chennai Super Kings, turns 31 on Tuesday, has a child on the way and has struggled with form and fitness recently.

"Dan might not have lost any sleep over [his decision] but I certainly know a number of the other guys have," Mills said. "Some of them have agonised for weeks. There's no doubt the guys were acutely aware they they were never going to win a popularity contest if they disappeared to the IPL in favour of playing Australia.

"It's a good outcome for New Zealand cricket but we couldn't say that if the players had to make the same decision next year or the year after we would get the same outcome. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't."

Although all six will still be available for half of the IPL, a number had limited involvement this year and, with large squads and restrictions on the number of imports, they might struggle to break into the side when they arrive. They receive 80 per cent of their contract for being in India even if they don't play but every IPL contract is up for renewal after next year's instalment.

NZC actually want their cricketers to make an impact in the IPL to encourage franchises to look at signing more Kiwis. But Vaughan was insistent a window needed to be created so players could play both international cricket and in the IPL.

"There are reasons why it doesn't exist and I understand that. The IPL is a domestic competition ... but it is bigger than that. It's not just the domestic competition of the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] but the pinnacle Twenty20 competition. It gets the best players and the ICC need to find a way to live with that."

Mills took it one step further.

"We can talk about the ICC but it's really the two or three big boards who determine what the scheduling is in the next eight-year period. I'm not convinced they understand how important it is for the likes of New Zealand. International cricket will be marginalised because players will start to make decisions that they want to play in the IPL. If we don't create a window for it, then the smaller nations will be marginalised. That's not the right answer for cricket.

"An Australian player might earn close to $2 million [from their national contract] and that might outweigh their IPL contract but there's no doubt as the IPL grows remuneration from that will also increase and it will become an issue for their players."

There seems little determination from top administrators to accommodate an IPL window into the Future Tours Programme, which is up for discussion beyond 2012.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi told The Guardian last month: "We never asked for one [a window] and we are never going to ask for one."

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING Dylan Cleaver