Muttiah Muralitharan is poised to call the MCG home with Victoria ready to announce the Sri Lankan offspinner a star import for the summer’s domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament.
The Bushrangers are expected to announce on Wednesday that Test cricket’s leading wicket taker has signed for the next domestic tournament, and join Victoria’s other international signing, West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo.
The return of Muralitharan, 37, to the MCG will complete a remarkable cycle for the bowler, as it will be 14 years since he was famously no-balled for throwing during the 1995 Boxing Day Test.
Australian states can sign two internationals for next year’s Twenty20 competition, and among the other stars already signed are the West Indies’ Chris Gayle (Western Australia) and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga (Tasmania).
The influx of world stars will boost the profile of the state Twenty20 competition, which will begin on December 28 and finish on January 23.
The competition provides a huge incentive for sides given the finalists receive a gold-pass entry into the Champions League competition, which features the best domestic Twenty20 sides across the world.
NSW, last summer’s Twenty20 champion, and Victoria, the beaten finalist, will be Australia’s representatives in the inaugural Champions League, scheduled to be played in India in October.
But the Blues and Bushrangers are yet to learn whether they will have their star players available, as Victoria could lose paceman Dirk Nannes and NSW could be denied opener David Warner to their Indian Premier League franchise, the Delhi Daredevils.
Nannes and Warner were regulars for Delhi in the last IPL tournament, and the clout of the Indian sides means Australian states could be below full-strength.
Delhi must compensate Victoria and NSW $US200,000 ($A238,805) each if they opt to have both stars playing against their home sides in India.
Victoria and NSW are yet to confirm their squads for the tournament while negotiations with IPL franchises continue.
Victorian captain Cameron White (Bangalore) and allrounder Andrew McDonald (Delhi) and NSW paceman Nathan Bracken (Bangalore) are others who had two teams qualify for the Champions League.
But that trio is likely to represent their Australian sides as they were only bit-part players in the IPL.
But NSW must decide whether to pay New Zealand side Otago for the services of hard-hitting wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum, whom the Blues secured for last summer’s Australian final.
Otago will be the one New Zealand side among the 12 playing in India, alongside the Bushrangers, Blues, Bangalore, Delhi, the Deccan Chargers, two teams each from South Africa and England and one each from Sri Lanka and the Caribbean.
The final squads are expected to be named later this week.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Spirit have named batter Rachael Haynes as captain and wicketkeeper Emma Inglis her deputy for the coming Women’s National Cricket League season.
Haynes succeeds Sarah Elliott (nee Edwards), who led the Spirit for the past four seasons, while Inglis takes over from Clea Smith, the side’s vice-captain for the last eight seasons.
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