Big names ruled out of 'million dollar' domestic final

Cricket Australia has refused a request from Queensland to allow members of the national one-day squad to appear in Wednesday's preliminary final of the domestic Twenty20 competition, which will give one team an opportunity at a multi-million dollar prize. The winner of the match between the Bulls and Victoria at the Gabba will earn a spot in the lucrative Champions League in India in October, making it the most pressure-packed game of the season.

The national selectors, coaching staff and Cricket Australia officials decided no players would be released for either Wednesday's game or the final, which is being hosted by New South Wales at the Olympic Stadium. "The sole focus needs to be on the preparation and performance of this group in Australian colours during an important and tough series against the No. 2-ranked one-day team in the world," Cricket Australia's Michael Brown said. However, Queensland will have Ryan Harris available after he was replaced by Mitchell Johnson in the one-day squad for the series against South Africa.

Graham Dixon, Queensland Cricket's chief executive, wrote to Cricket Australia on Friday asking for the bigger names, including the state's allrounder James Hopes, to be available for the finals. "Not just for Queensland players but on behalf of the three participating states for the integrity of the competition, for the integrity of the sponsors and because of the fact there are pretty significant stakes at risk," Dixon told the Australian.

"It appeared to me the [international] program allows for that bit of latitude to be shown, particularly given the people involved in Wednesday's match haven't been regular Test players this summer. They are basically state players so their workload hasn't been great."

The Australians have a couple of days off before preparing for Friday's third match of the CB Series with South Africa in Sydney before the fourth contest in Adelaide the following Monday. David Hussey and Cameron White are Victoria's representatives in the national squad while Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken, Nathan Hauritz and David Warner are from New South Wales, who qualified for the final with a last-ball win over the Bushrangers on Saturday.

The winner of the Champions League earns $3 million and New South Wales' players will have to choose whether to share the money throughout the entire squad or just the outfit that goes to India. The Sydney Morning Herald said the team had the opportunity to win $130,000 each and Dave Gilbert, Cricket New South Wales' chief executive, was hoping for a formula to divide the money fairly.

"I will certainly bow to what the player group ultimately decides, they are the guys that are going to be the sharing the money," Gilbert told the paper. Simon Katich, the captain, did not expect any problems.

"I don't think there will be too much of an issue there, it's the way things have always been with prizemoney," Katich said. "When we won the Pura Cup last season the money was split up amongst the entire squad. We will obviously sit down as a playing group and discuss it, but I can't see there being too many dramas with that - we've always had a squad mentality."

Queensland squad Chris Simpson (capt), Glen Batticciotto, Ryan Broad, Lee Carseldine, Ben Cutting, Ryan Harris, Chris Hartley (wk), Ben Laughlin, Alister McDermott, Craig Philipson, Nathan Reardon, Nathan Rimmington, Wade Townsend.