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New Zealand Cricket are in talks with Indian officials to secure more contracts for the country's leading players.
When the Indian Premier League was launched, with official approval from the International Cricket Council, five New Zealand players were included - test captain Daniel Vettori, vice captain Brendon McCullum,
Jacob Oram, Stephen Fleming and Scott Styris, the latter two of whom have retired from test cricket.
But as concerns mount over the defections to the rebel Twenty20 competition, the Indian Cricket League - with the latest signing Lou Vincent jetting to Mumbai yesterday - NZC are endeavouring to stem the leaks with the lure of a future contract with the IPL.
NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan confirmed last night that his organisation is trying to enlarge New Zealand's involvement in the IPL, which has its first tournament over 44 days starting in April.
"It's fair to say the IPL is still evolving," he said. "We're trying to get an understanding from the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] on whether there might be more opportunities freed up for New Zealand players."
The appeal is obvious: get an IPL contract, which has the backing of the national bodies and allows players to keep representing their country, as opposed to being shunned for signing with the alternative Twenty20 competition.
Several prominent New Zealand players are known to be considering their options, and time is pressing with the next round of NZC contracts to come out on June 1.
Senior test trio Mathew Sinclair, Kyle Mills and Chris Martin, with allrounder James Franklin - on the way back from a lengthy injury break - are among those keeping a close eye on developments.
"Guys who aren't in either the IPL or the ICL will weigh up their options at that time," New Zealand Cricket Players Association manager Heath Mills said last night.
"All those players are looking at the situation and contemplating where they fit into the greater scheme of things.
"They are all loyal to New Zealand, want to keep playing for New Zealand, but I guess they've got some decisions to make in the future."
Vaughan said the loss of players such as Vincent, and earlier Shane Bond and Andre Adams, is frustrating, and annoying.
"The depth in terms of our playing stock is vitally important and these defections obviously hurt that. We need players pushing to get into the test and one-day sides and at the moment we're losing some of them."
Vaughan said NZC is looking to produce financial packages that are appealing to the country's best players. And he took a swipe at Adams and Vincent, both former internationals and still in their prime cricket years, who have departed.
"In the end you've got to say the guys we want playing cricket in New Zealand need to be desperate to play international cricket. It's quite obvious from their actions neither of those guys were," Vaughan said.
He said those signing for the rebel organisation needed to consider how long they would be in business.
"I don't think it's by any means a certainty to be here in 12 months' time. Players need to understand that and that they're not ever going to get an IPL contract if they go in cahoots with the opposition."
One difficulty for NZC is how long players might have to wait before more IPL contracts become available. The initial auction in Mumbai last week was for three-year terms.
Getting players on board for the April-May event is out of the question. The eight franchises have spent their salary cap of US$5 million ($6.1 million). Next year is a more realistic target. The trick then will be to persuade high-performing players to hang on, throwing in an improved national contract in June.
WHO IS WHERE
Indian Premier League (officially approved by International Cricket Council): Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Stephen Fleming, Scott Styris.
Indian Cricket League (rebel competition organised by an Indian media group): Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Hamish Marshall, Nathan Astle, Daryl Tuffey, Craig McMillan, Andre Adams, Shane Bond, Adam Parore, Lou Vincent.
