February 19, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 11, 1429

SYDNEY, Feb 18: At least five Australian cricket players are waiting until the last minute to sign up for the Indian Premier League, with 15 mentioned by local media as likely starters in the lucrative Twenty20 competition.

The Indian league’s Australian agent Neil Maxwell said on Monday that five players who had been granted an extension to the deadline to sign contracts were spending the day going through last-minute details before committing to the competition.

“I need to present the final signatures to India overnight,” Maxwell said. “With all that’s going on the players haven’t had a lot of time to take it all in. They’ve been playing matches, so they need time to digest some of the information.”

He said the players needed to assure themselves that they were not in breach of any contractual arrangements with Cricket Australia regarding existing sponsors.

He declined to name the last five players to sign, but said they are among the initial draft of Australians.—AP