The International Cricket Council is confident plans for the creation of a rebel league have been shelved following talks with Essel, the Indian conglomerate behind the project.
Essel, who are owned by the billionaire Subhash Chandra, were this year discovered to be drawing up a blueprint for the creation of a rival governing body for the sport and a new Twenty20 tournament, sparking alarm at the ICC headquarters in Dubai.
Fica, the umbrella group for seven players’ unions, was sounded out about the interest of their members, with the Australia opener David Warner and the former captain Michael Clarke reported to be on a list of players targeted for multi-million pound contracts.
Lalit Modi, the architect of the highly successful Indian Premier League, was known to have been involved in the early stages of the project, which drew comparisons to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the late 1970s.
Exposure of their movements by the Guardian and the Sydney Morning Herald in April prompted Essel to confirm plans were being drawn up for a move back into cricket, after their attempt at a rival tournament, the Indian Cricket League, folded in 2009 after two seasons amid reports of unpaid wages and match-fixing.
As well as prompting an ICC investigation, the news raised the question of whether the company’s broadcasting subsidiary, Ten Sports, should continue to hold the rights to show home international cricket played by West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa and Zimbabwe while working on a breakaway league.
But following meetings between representatives of Essel and the ICC, a truce has been agreed by which Essel remain free to continue these contracts – as well as bid for television rights in future – on the assurance their proposed breakway plans be closed down permanently.
In addition to this, it is understood that Essel’s longstanding legal battle for compensation from the ICC, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the England and Wales Cricket Board for refusing to sanction their earlier ICL tournament is close to being resolved.
An ICC source told the Guardian: “Essel have given up the project. Everyone is prepared to settle and move on, while Ten Sports are entitled to bid for future cricket broadcasting rights. This is a good result for cricket.”
