February 20, 2008	Wednesday	Safar 12, 1429

SYDNEY, Feb 19: A handful of leading Australians, including middle-order batsman Michael Clarke and strike bowler Mitchell Johnson, have turned down offers to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) to focus on their international careers.

Australia’s IPL agent, Neil Maxwell, released a brief statement on Tuesday confirming 13 Australians had signed up for the Twenty20 tournament starting in April, although there were notable absentees, including Clarke, Johnson, Brad Haddin, Stuart Clark and Jason Gillespie.

A spokesman for Clarke’s management said the batsman planned to play IPL in the future but was wary of over committing himself to too much cricket this year.

“He’s keen to play it over time, but with the amount of cricket he’s got on the calendar, he just wants some time to spend with his family and friends,” the spokesman told Australian Associated Press.

Sam Halvorsen, the manager for Johnson and Haddin, said his two clients turned down three-year contracts because they wanted to concentrate on cementing their places in the Australian team.

“Both of them have resisted lucrative offers over the past three years to play county cricket to focus on their objective of becoming long-term Australian players,” Halvorsen said.

“They don’t want to burn themselves out. They don’t want to be away for extra time. They want to focus on preparing to play for Australia.”

However, the majority of the one-day squad did sign on the dotted line ahead of this week’s IPL player “auction”.

The list includes current skipper Ricky Ponting, soon to be retired vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and the trio of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, who all retired over a year ago.

The Australians were only cleared to play in the tournament this week after their national body reached an agreement with IPL over a sponsorship dispute which had threatened their participation.

Ponting had said he feared players would turn their backs on their national teams if they were prevented from joining the IPL.

He called on the ICC to create a separate window for the tournament to avoid a clash with regular international tours.

Australian players who have signed for IPL: Brett Lee, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Nathan Bracken, Cameron White, Simon Katich, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath.—Reuters