Players warned against joining rebel US league

The ICC has warned players against signing up for a new unauthorised league being established in the USA.

The American Premier League, the brainchild of local entrepreneur Jay Mir, is a Twenty20 tournament scheduled to be held in October on a converted baseball field in Staten Island, New York City. Although there remains some uncertainty about the whole venture, it is believed that a number of current and former players have been approached to take part.

The ICC issued a statement earlier this week cautioning that the event was unauthorised, and in effect would have the same status as the rebel Indian Cricket League, whose players have been banned from international and much domestic cricket. That could mean that anyone taking part in the APL would face similar sanctions, and any team fielding such an individual would be barred from the Twenty20 Champions League.

To date, the only named signings have come from Pakistan, but rumours, many emanating from the organisers, have linked the league with several current county players. The Daily Telegraph claimed that David Collier, the ECB chief executive, had warned county chairmen, about their players signing up.

John Aaron, the secretary of the USA Cricket Association, confirmed to Cricinfo that the board's "blessing was not sought in promoting the tournament". He added that "the entrepreneurial sprit is alive and well in the USA, therefore many individuals continue to seek opportunities to arrange events".

The ICC were less concillatory. "The organisers have not sought the approval of the USA Cricket Association or the ICC, although I understand that the APL is approaching players directly to participate in the event. Members are therefore precluded from releasing their players to play in this event until such time as ICC confirms that the event has been approved."

There was some good news, however, for the APL with the announcement that Sir Richard Hadlee had joined as an executive consultant.

A further question mark over the whole venture is the timing, as the weather in New York in October is not really suitable for cricket. One veteran administrator in the USA told Cricinfo that "unless they have plans to play indoors, this whole idea is, to put it mildly, ambitious".