Modi reiterates stand against teams with ICL links

Finals day of England's Twenty20 Cup is to be held at the Rose Bowl this Saturday but only two of the four teams in the fray - Essex and Middlesex - have chances of qualifying for the Champions League because they have no ICL links, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has said.

The other two semi-finalists, Kent and Durham, have ICL players and the BCCI, which is spearheading the Champions League, had previously declared that no team with players associated with ICL would be invited for the tournament.

Modi told Cricinfo that dates for the multi-team international Twenty20 tournament are yet to be firmed up "because of various issues" but he confirmed that Essex and Middlesex will be invited if both reach the final on July 26.

Essex meet Kent and Middesex take on Durham in the semi-finals of their domestic league which will determine England's level of participation in the tournament that was originally conceived to involve the top two Twenty20 domestic teams from India, England, Australia and South Africa.

Asked whether only Essex and Middlesex stood a chance of being invited for the tournament, as they don't have ICL players, Modi said, "Yes, that's right." He also confirmed that if one of the two teams, or both, failed to reach the final, the BCCI would try to accommodate teams from other countries, including Pakistan, to complete the eight-team line-up.

IPL officials are currently trying to work out the dates for the Champions League with the various teams and stakeholders involved. The plan, Modi said, was to hold it after the Champions Trophy in September and before the first Test between India and Australia which starts on October 9. In between, though, is a practice match between Australia and an Indian team that will include two Australian players - Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey - scheduled to play in the Champions League."

Hayden and Hussey are key members of the IPL's Chennai Superkings squad, which has qualified for the Champions League. They are also expected to figure in Australia's Test squad for the India tour and the practice match in Hyderabad from October 2-5 effectively rules them out of the tournament.

The Champions League was first announced by England on June 7 who said that the ECB, Cricket Australia, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa had "reached an agreement for the staging of the inaugural Champions League this autumn". The tournament was soon surrounded by uncertainty after the BCCI announced its policy against teams with ICL players - 15 of the 18 English counties employ ICL players - and later realised that there might not be a clear window to hold the tournament this year.

"We would ideally want clear dates from a Friday through to the next Sunday. But nothing is clear at the moment because there are so many parties involved in organising the tournament," Modi said.