IPL may have negative influence on international calender: CA

Melbourne, Mar 18 (UNI) Cricket Australia (CA) has expressed concerns that the success of the Indian Premier League may have a negative influence on the international calender in future.

James Sutherland, CEO of the CA, said the cash-rich league may ask for more weeks for conducting the Twenty20 event as it gains popularity.

''It's a six-week window one day, does it creep into eight, 10, 12 weeks when the IPL becomes a great success?,'' Sutherland was quoted as saying in 'The Age' today.

''The moment it starts to compromise international cricket, we have concerns and doubts about the whole thing,'' he added.

Sutherland's fears stem from the fact that the West Indies Cricket Board has allowed three of its players to play in the inaugural IPL, instead of in the Test matches against Australia sheduled to be held in the month of May and June in Caribbean.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, will be unavailable for the opening two Tests of the series if their IPL sides make into the finals.

Donald Peters, WICB Chief Executive Officer, had said there were little chance of stopping them with so much money on offer.

''Given the amount of money involved, it certainly destabilises the infrastructure of cricket. It's not fair to the players, and it's not fair to the national teams,'' he said.

Peters, however, was confident that the series against Australia would be a success even without big names.

''I believe people in the West Indies want to see our team play, and I personally feel if we can put a few young, exciting players out there, people will still come to watch the matches,'' he added.

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