Time is running short for the establishment of next summer’s reinvention of the domestic Twenty20 competition, with a host of fundamental tournament details still to be agreed upon.
A second two-day Cricket Australia board meeting in as many months has been unable to cut through the myriad of issues surrounding the event’s creation, many of them related to the ownership model for each of the new city-based teams.
NSW and Victoria are unhappy with the percentage of ownership – 25 per cent – open to them for each of their two teams, while there are also hold-ups related to sponsorship.
The plan for player recruitment remains unclear too, as the players union (ACA) pushes for improved terms in their new Memorandum Of Understanding.
Of the state associations only Queensland has so far unveiled the name – Brisbane Heat – of their T20 franchise.
“All the State associations are in negotiation with the final form of the participation agreement … we’re hoping that within the next week or two that will be done and dusted,” Queensland Cricket chairman Jim Holding said this week.
“Then we’ll be able to sign and get on with the job of developing a team and a new concept in a relatively short period of time so we can start with a whiz-bang team in December of this year.
“Yes we are concerned things are getting on a bit. Every state and Cricket Australia is concerned as well.
“Two things need to happen. We need to get the participation agreement squared away and the rules on the availability of players and how you select them.
“I would emphasise and encourage both CA and the ACA to get that done as quickly as possible because time is getting short.”
A CA spokesman confirmed that nothing concrete had been agreed upon at the board meeting, though numerous proposals were tabled for how to settle the issues of ownership, sponsorship and player recruitment.
“There will be an all-states meeting next month to finalise details of outstanding issues,” he said.
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