Cricket: India grumpy at cup row

CALCUTTA - India have pledged to name their 15-man squad for next year's cricket World Cup on time despite a continuing sponsorship row.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said the squad would be announced on Monday, a day ahead of the International Cricket Council's deadline.

But he also blamed the sport's world governing body for the long-running sponsorship wrangle.

Its demands that players freeze personal endorsements in favour of official sponsors during and around the World Cup were unfair, he said.

Dalmiya, speaking after an emergency board meeting, said it was "unlawful" to ask players to break existing contracts.

Despite having signed up to the ICC's World Cup participating contracts in March, the board was now opposed to them, he said.

The sponsorship row could yet see India's players boycott the World Cup, which starts in South Africa in February.

The ICC, which is trying to protect official event sponsors from "ambush marketing"' by rival companies bidding to cash in on the cup, has ordered players to refrain from advertising during and around the tournament.

India's top players, who earn far more from advertising than from playing, have rebelled, arguing they were not consulted and that the ICC had no right to sell their image rights.

The ICC has since offered a series of compromises to the players while retaining the core of its restrictions. Last week it gave a final warning to the Indian board that it was "obligated to both participate in the ICC World Cup 2003 and to send its best team to the event".

Sri Lanka's cricket authorities have rejected a demand for higher salaries from their national team to compensate for possible sponsorship losses during the World Cup.

- AGENCIES