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An extraordinary summit meeting in South Africa tomorrow between the leaders of the ICC, the BCCI and the ICL is the start of a process to bring cricket's 'rebels' back into the fold.
The Herald on Sunday understands a couple of sticking points remain, most particularly that the ICL are reluctant to step aside from supporting grassroots cricket in India, but there is increasing optimism that the Indian Cricket League will soon become an officially sanctioned competition.
What form that will take is undecided but the smart money is that it would be a masters-emerging players type tournament to run as a complementary tournament to the Indian Premier League.
Retired internationals would play alongside emerging local talent, while ICL-contracted players who still have international aspirations would filter back into the IPL.
A source said nothing final was expected to come out of the meeting, but the fact all the major movers and shakers were sitting around the same table was a positive sign.
The ICC is desperate for the BCCI, owners of the IPL, and the ICL to bridge the impasse that saw the first meeting between the warring factions last just 20 minutes.
On a New Zealand level, that would see the likes of Shane Bond, Chris Harris, Daryl Tuffey, Andre Adams, Craig McMillan and Lou Vincent lose their pariah status. Whether any of those would be inclined to make themselves available for New Zealand again is a moot point.
Only Bond, of the ICL players, would seem a genuine international option but yesterday he said he would not be getting his hopes up they'd been down this road before and nothing had come of it.
New Zealand Players' Association boss Heath Mills was more hopeful though, saying there appeared to "be a genuine desire on the part of some of the BCCI board to reach a resolution".
ICC president David Morgan has made it a mission of his to find a compromise that would allow ICL players to rejoin the international fold.
"I've long regarded it as a priority to bring together the BCCI and the owners of the ICL and I'm pleased to say we have fixed a meeting to take place in Johannesburg on Monday," said Morgan.
Both the ICL and IPL have suffered as a result of the lack of confidence in the international markets and global cost-cutting that is expected to hit sports sponsorship hard.
The IPL last week lost out on a US$31 million ($62 million) deal after 'contract violations' while the ICL have postponed their next tournament until later in the year and some players, including New Zealand players, are waiting on their last quarterly payments.
Bond has been paid but players who are awaiting payment has received written assurance from ICL owner Subhash Chandra, promising all wages would be paid but asking for patience.
