Mark Smit
26 September 2008
Johannesburg — THE tug-of-war between the Chennai Super Kings and the Titans for the services of all-rounder Albie Morkel in the new Twenty20 Champions League intensified yesterday, with Titans CEO Elise Lombard pointing out that the event could not be played on "a level playing field" as it stood.
She was alluding to the fact that the two Indian teams entered for the tournament are the two that finished top in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament in India.
The Super Kings and Rajahstan Royals are made up of players from all over the world and are, essentially, international teams.
The Australian entrants are their state finalists, Western Australia and Victoria; SA will enter the Titans and the Dolphins; England will be represented by Middlesex; and a regional Pakistani team will come later.
Lombard said it was hardly fair to expect domestic provincial or state teams - made up largely of local players - to be up against teams that include international stars from all over the world.
To make matters worse for the Titans, arguably their best Twenty20 player - national all-rounder Morkel - played for the Super Kings in the IPL and they want him for their team in the Champions League. The Titans have insisted that if the Super Kings want Morkel, there must be a financial settlement "not necessarily with us, but with Cricket SA", Lombard said.
"But that apart, we must resolve this player overlap situation. What if the Warriors had been one of the South African franchises involved? They would then have to do without Graeme Smith, who would be on call for his Indian franchise.
"I hardly think the situation is fair."
Cricket SA's GM of cricket operations Brian Basson said the Morkel situation was still fluid, but a financial consideration would have to be included in the solution.
Lombard said that, since a 10-year time-frame was envisaged for the Champions League, the anomaly had to be sorted out.
Also yesterday, Cricket SA confirmed that its contracted internationals will be "phased-in" to the Supersport Series after their busy season.
Contracted players will be available for their franchises for the start of the SuperSport Series on Thursday.
Gerald Majola, the CEO of Cricket SA, said yesterday that Lions captain Neil McKenzie, Dolphins batsman Hashim Amla, Cobras batsmen Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy and Herschelle Gibbs, Titans spinner Paul Harris and Morkel, as well as Warriors players Monde Zondeki, Robin Peterson and Johan Botha will all be available from the start.
"The multi format players will come back for the third round. Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn have been placed in this category," Majola said.
Morne Morkel and Andre Nel (Titans and Lions respectively) will play the first two matches, but not the third (Durban and Bloemfontein respectively). Makhaya Ntini will play the second and third matches in East London and Durban respectively. Graeme Smith, who has an elbow injury, may not play any representative cricket until the Castle Test series against Bangladesh next month.
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