Ponting said the money on offer from the officially sanctioned Indian Premier League (IPL), made it difficult for some players to continue representing their countries.

“We cannot afford to lose teams such as New Zealand and the West Indies from international cricket, but my fear is that this could happen if the game cannot strike a balance between Tests and ODIs and the IPL’s riches,” Ponting wrote in the 2008 edition of his annual Captain’s Diary.

“Unless such a balance can be achieved, I could see some countries’ cricket teams declining in the way Zimbabwe’s sides have struggled over the past few years.”

Ponting could also have included Sri Lanka and Bangladesh among his concerns.

Since he wrote his diary, a Sri Lanka Test tour of England has been scrapped because it clashed with the 2009 IPL tournament and 14 Bangladeshis, seven of them on central contracts, defected to the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Neither is Pakistan immune, with last year’s ICC Test player of the year Mohammad Yousuf recently defecting to the ICL.

West Indies players face the extra lure of matches sponsored by Caribbean-based billionaire Allen Stanford, who recently put up $US20 million ($A29.9 million) for a single Twenty20 match between England and his Allstars.

“The best cricketers in the game want to keep representing their country, but if it’s going to be costing them (a lot of) money then there are tough decisions ahead - for players and also for administrators,” Ponting wrote.

Ponting cited the example of Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand keeper-batsman currently in Australia preparing for a two-Test series starting in Brisbane next week.

McCullum, a team-mate of Ponting’s in the IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders, had to leave this year’s competition after only a few games to join the Kiwi Test side in England.

“Purely from a monetary point of view, that was the last thing in the world he wanted to do, because the money he was earning in India was substantially more than he would get for playing in the UK.”

McCullum could earn $US700,000 ($A1.05 million) if he played the six-week IPL season, but remained loyal to his country, as did fellow IPL players Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram (who is missing the Australian tour through injury).

New Zealand have, however, lost some of their best players since the IPL and ICL came along.

Scott Styris (IPL) has retired from Test cricket and former captain Stephen Fleming is now playing only IPL cricket.

Leading New Zealanders playing for the ICL, and therefore banned from international cricket, include Shane Bond, Craig McMillan, Darryl Tuffey and Lou Vincent.

Ponting said if the IPL is extended, players will resent the extra pressure to choose one form of the game over another.

“It will be tougher to retain the public’s interest and eventually the golden goose will be no more.”

The Australian captain, currently under fire for his tactics in the losing series in India, said he could not imagine giving up international cricket to play IPL but doubted that would be the case with everyone.

“If the IPL keeps growing … the next generation might opt for franchise over country.

“Everyone in the game should work towards ensuring that never happens.”

“The safety of the athletes and everybody (is) paramount. Whatever it takes must be spent in order to secure their safety. That is critical,” he told reporters.

Moynihan, in Sydney for talks with his Australian counterpart John Coates, said that London’s security budget will be far greater than originally planned for.

“In the bid, the amount of money doesn’t reflect what we now realise is necessary to make for a secure Games,” he said.

British newspaper reports said the security budget is likely to blow out to STG1.5 billion ($A3.33 billion), three times the original estimate. The total Games budget is STG9.3 billion ($A20.68 billion).

“The security budget has yet to be finalised,” Moynihan said.

“I fly back from here and we’ve got an Olympic board meeting (this week) when we’ll dicuss it.

“If the security budget is greater than originally conceived, which it is, that is a price you absolutely have to pay to make sure the Games are a success and the athletes are secure, and everybody who comes to the country as our guest … is fully secure.”

He said whatever extra money needed to be spent on security would not jeopardise other aspects of the Games.

“That can’t be traded off against other aspects of the Games,” he said.

The organisers got an early lesson in what a massive undertaking they have on their hands; the London terrorist bombings of July 7, 2005, took place the day after London won the bid.

Moynihan conceded that the current global financial crisis was also having an impact on some sponsorship arrangements.

“It makes it tougher, no question, (but) I believe we will achieve our targets” he said.

“Some are under greater strain than they were a matter of months ago so we need to respond to that.

“Ultimately we’ve given commitments to the IOC and we need to see those commitments through.”

Aside from the Games budget, Britain is spending STG600 million ($A1.33 billion) over six years preparing its team, of which half comes from the national lottery.

Moynihan said he expected Britain would have almost double the 305 athletes it sent to Beijing, where it finished fourth on the medal table with 47 medals, including 19 gold (Australia won 46, including 14 gold).

He said the Games would still be modelled on the Sydney 2000 Olympics, rather than the $US50 billion ($A60.4 billion) extravaganza in Beijing.

Like Sydney, London will be able to use existing venue for sports, including Lord’s cricket ground for archery, Eton school for rowing, Wimbledon for tennis and the Serpentine in Hyde Park for triathlon.

Moynihan also announced that Britain would send more than 200 athletes and officials to take part in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney next January as part of their buildup to the London Games.