New Zealand Board Signs up IPL-contracted Players

Wellington: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has succeeded in signing its six Indian Premier League-contracted players, avoiding a possible rift caused by a scheduling clash with Australia's tour of the country next March.

Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor had all been granted extra time to confirm their contracts to allow scheduling conflicts to be clarified, NZC said in a statement on Friday.

The 2010 IPL was scheduled to start earlier on March 12 to accommodate the ICC World Twenty20 tournament and would clash with a significant part of Australia's scheduled tour to New Zealand, NZC added.

"However, all our players with IPL contracts who were offered a New Zealand Cricket contract have now signed," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said in the statement.

"This is an admirable decision by each of these individuals and they should be applauded for it. By signing their contracts, they are sacrificing significant sums of money.

"Their decision helps to reinforce international cricket as the pinnacle of our sport, and clearly shows that representing New Zealand remains the biggest motivating factor for our leading players."