- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A future where Australia’s brightest young cricket talents spend their formative years under the lights of the Indian Premier League, and develop their techniques accordingly, does not worry Cricket Australia in the slightest.
Nor do the custodians of the game down under fear that Indian money will corrupt the idealistic ambitions of any young player to one day be handed a baggy green cap.
The signing of 21-year-old NSW allrounder Moises Henriques to an unprecedented $455,000 contract to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders, while several of his Blues teammates also court IPL deals, has fired speculation this week about player loyalty.
A game changed forever by the money thrown around at last year’s inaugural IPL player auction is now moving into a phase where league franchises target the flower of cricket’s youth to sign them up before their schedules are overtaken by international commitments.
It is only logical to suggest that such big money signings will dilute the importance of the game’s classical forms in the minds of young cricketers, but CA general manager of operations Michael Brown said he was all for young players earning their spurs in India so long as they were managed smartly.
“I’m yet to meet a player who doesn’t want to play for his country,” Brown told AAP.
“Maybe in a generation or two we might look at that again, but at the moment young players remain very clear in their ambition to play for Australia.
“Twenty20 is the most positive development I’ve seen in cricket in my time working in it and I can’t see any negative in our young players going to the IPL.”
There appears to be little fear at CA that a few more years of the IPL might start to make young players reassess their career priorities away from the classic pathway of club cricket, state cricket and then the Australian Test and one-day sides.
Brown said that CA looked most closely at the workloads presented to young bowlers – a category Henriques is filed under as an emerging quick as well as hard-hitting batsman – but would now prefer to see them playing in India rather than committing to the slog of the English County Championship, the more time-honoured path for cricketers venturing overseas.
“We work really closely with the state associations to manage the intricacies of player workloads, including those who sign to the IPL,” he said.
“If the opportunity comes for players to play in the IPL and it’s fair and reasonable for all concerned, then we’re all for players to go.
“Talking to coaches they will say that the opportunity to play in all three forms of the game can only improve a player, and last year we saw the improvements in Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson thanks in large part to their performances in the IPL.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.