Michael Clarke and David Warner $50 million targets of new rebel cricket league
Michael Clarke and David Warner would be offered $50 million contracts as part of a plan hatched by an Indian conglomerate to take on the cricket establishment in a plot that has been likened to Kerry Packer's creation of World Series Cricket nearly 40 years ago.
The Essel Group's owner, Indian billionaire Subhash Chandra, has confirmed ambitions to launch a cricket venture since Fairfax Media revealed last week the business giant had registered company names in Australia and other nations in an apparent bid to launch a rival world governing body and a rich, new global Twenty20 league.
"There is a general dissatisfaction with the game's governance, how it's run and the inequity of the game's finances and there are other bodies around that would believe they can globalise the game of cricket in a more equitable fashion than the current administration," May said.
Cricket Australia's board will assemble in Melbourne on Friday. The meeting was scheduled before news of Essel's potential power play emerged but directors are expected to be briefed on an ICC investigation into the Essel project and discuss the matter at length.
The founder of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, and his associate Dean Kino, the ex-CA lawyer and formerly a key player in establishing the T20 Champions League, have been strongly linked to the Essel project. Modi admits he was approached about it but denies involvement, as does Kino.
US-based May, the former Australian spinner, is not surprised at the emergence of potential rivals to the ICC on the scene. "If the current administration really wants to protect the game they should look within to see how they can improve their own administration rather than blaming others who merely want to be competitive," he said.
"Any organisation that doesn't meet the highest standards, whether it's in corporate world or sporting world, if there are doubts about the integrity of thier leaders, if they're doubts about how they distribute finances, they're always going to be up for some sort of battle against someone who wants to do the right thing and that is probably what's happening in cricket at the moment."
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