July 26, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 10, 1428

JOHANNESBURG, July 25: Cricket South Africa (CSA), the South African Cricketers Association (SACA), and the country's six professional franchises have agreed on a business model expected to make professional players “genuine stakeholders in the game.”

The agreement includes standardised contracts and benefits for players and regulations on the number of playing contracts.

“The MoU provides for salary minimums and salary caps and for optimal use of South Africa's player resources through regulations relating to player transfers, player loan-outs and playing overseas in the off-season,” Norman Arendse, the president of CSA, announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

Arendse said that the primary objectives included dealing with annual revenue fluctuations and stating how fundamental player issues would be dealt with.

“The model enables longer term financial forecasting and planning for the provision of funds to amateur cricket for the development of the game,” he said.

Tony Irish, the chief executive of the SACA, added the MoU projects and averages South African cricket’s revenues over a four-year period and links what the players will earn to the financial position of the game.

Meanwhile, South African cricket authorities said on Tuesday they would be clamping down, with the help of their English counterparts, on their players registering as Kolpak players in county cricket.Under the Kolpak ruling, players from countries that have a trade agreement with the European Union are allowed to play in the bloc as locals as long as they do not appear for their countries.

“Both countries are unhappy about the proliferation of Kolpak players,” Arendse said.

—Agencies