New Zealand retains players despite IPL lure

New Zealand Cricket has confirmed its six players with existing IPL deals have signed their new national contracts for 2009-10 despite an overlap between their New Zealand and IPL commitments. The six men had been granted an extension to confirm their NZC contracts and all 20 players offered national deals have now signed.

Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor had all been allowed the extra time while scheduling conflicts were clarified. The IPL begins in March next year and will clash with a large part of Australia's tour of New Zealand but all six players have committed to New Zealand.

"This is an admirable decision by each of these individuals and they should be applauded for it," Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of NZC, said. "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. We appreciate this issue may recur again and the onus is on international cricket to proactively search for solutions so that players are not forced to make such difficult decisions in the future."

Vaughan said discussions with players and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association during the past fortnight had been constructive and positive. The 2010 IPL has been brought forward to accommodate the ICC World Twenty20 and is expected to begin on March 12.