Modi Threatens to Ban Icl Players From Twenty20 Champions League

The English counties will field their renegades from the rogue Indian Cricket League en masse when the Twenty20 season begins tomorrow in defiance of threats to ban them from the inaugural Champions League tournament in September.

The two finalists from England's Twenty20 Cup will qualify for the eight-team Champions League, alongside teams from India, Australia and Sri Lanka, with an unprecedented £2.5m on offer for the winners.

But counties will risk the wrath of Lalit Modi, president of the Indian Premier League, who still vows that no concessions will be made against players associated with the rival ICL. Modi insists: "Any ICL player playing for any team automatically disqualifies that team from participating in the Champions League. No exceptions will be made under any circumstances."

That would not only make a mockery of the tournament, it would probably cause it to collapse. Tom Sears, Derbyshire's chief executive, encapsulated the counties' attitude when he said: "If they ban the counties, about 15 out of 18 will be ineligible. I can't see the ECB agreeing to a tournament on those terms."

Giles Clarke, the ECB's chairman, repeatedly insisted on Sunday that "the ECB October communique still applies", and that the counties were "well aware of it." This basically advises the counties that should they reach the final they will not be banned, although their ICL players might well be.

County after county yesterday insisted that they would not leave out their ICL players and that to do so would illogically weaken their sides for the most high-profile county tournament of the summer.

"Northants will be fielding our ICL players in all Twenty20 matches," said Northamptonshire's chief executive, Mark Tagg, and the refrain continued across the shires throughout the day.

Modi is a tough negotiator, determined to wield Indian power at every stage. He still refuses to confirm the Champions League, insisting that it is agreed "in principle only". He claimed: "The venues have not been decided and the dates are still open." He will first report to the Indian board's working committee on June 22, with the intention of concluding arrangements at the ICC's annual meeting in Dubai a week later.

But Clarke insists that England's Twenty20 season begins tomorrow with the Champions League bang on track. Cricket Australia have been given the task of drawing up rules on player eligibility and they have no wish to ban ICL players. The ECB did try to ban them from county cricket only to abandon the effort because of legal challenges.

It would be wonderful to be a fly on the wall when Modi and Clarke next negotiate. Indeed, if the meetings are held in the BCCI offices in Mumbai, a rudimentary setting still entirely untouched by the wealth in Indian cricket, there could be thousands of them all jostling for a listen.