Former Australian great Ian Chappel is someone who is known to court controversies, and it seems he is at it again. The Australian Board devised a method, a contract, that would encourage Australian players to dedicate themselves to playing for the nation and not private cricket leagues. Some have welcomed the suggestion and some have lambasted it. Ian Chappel joins the bandwagon that is opposing the move. He thinks this move could create a split in the team.
“From afar it looks as though the board is trying to splinter the players, which I find a rather strange tactic. Maybe the board thought. You know what the players are like. They were working on the theory of greed that you keep the top blokes happy with money and they won’t care about the rest. It looks like they’ve picked the wrong target”. Chappell said.
He further spoke about Ashes and said, “The deadline of June 30 given by Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has received a heated response from the Australian Cricketers Association, the players union and also David Warner who warned the board that they might not have a team to field in the Ashes. And eventually they will come to their senses”.
Chappell said that there is always the option for the players to go the “Chris Gayle” route and play in lucrative Twenty20 leagues around the world but doubted it would ever come to that. He said that “there will be more posturing and eventually they will come to their senses,” he concluded.
