18 September 2004	Saturday	02 Shaban 1425

MELBOURNE, Sept 17: Cricket Australia said on Friday it is powerless to intervene in the wrangle over television rights for the much-awaited tour of India later this month.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has debated a court order which prevented it from seeking fresh bids for rights to the series until the legal dispute between rival networks, Zee and ESPN-Star Sports, was settled.

ESPN-Star, a joint venture between Disney's ESPN and Rupert Murdoch's Star TV networks, has challenged the BCCI's decision to award the broadcasting rights for all international cricket played in the country for the next four years to Zee for US$308 million.

Australia may be the biggest draw card in world cricket, but the country's governing body is effectively powerless to do anything other than keep its fingers crossed that there will be a swift resolution.

Cricket Australia has taken its concerns to the International Cricket Council (ICC), which can penalise cricket boards for failing to uphold their tour commitments under the ICC's future tours program. But aside from Cricket Australia chairman Bob Merriman pressing BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya for updates, there is little Australia can do other than wait for the matter to be resolved in the courtroom.

"It's a complex situation in India and it's a matter for them to sort out," Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said on Friday. "All we can do at this stage is assume the tour will go ahead in its present format unless we hear something else, and all we can do is be a very, very interested onlooker."

Local broadcaster Fox Sports, which will take a feed from the Indian broadcaster to Australian viewers, is also waiting for an outcome. Australia's tour is scheduled to start in late September and the first of the four Tests scheduled to start in Bangalore on Oct 6. -AFP