Yorkshire backs ECB over rebels

Yorkshire have become the first county to voice their support for the ECB's uncompromising stance in banning overseas players who take part in unsanctioned tournaments.

The ECB's hostility to the rebel Indian Cricket League - a Twenty20 TV tournament with no official jurisdiction - has been made clear, but their threat to ban foreign players who take part in it from county cricket seemed to catch some by surprise, with Sussex and Hampshire among those urgently seeking clarification yesterday.

Yorkshire, who are hardly regarded as natural bedfellows of the ECB, have no such doubts, immediately falling into line, by serving their own ultimatum on the Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Stewart Regan, Yorkshire's chief executive, said: "We have given Rana an ultimatum which is basically: 'Are you going to take part in the unofficial Indian Cricket League or are you going to play for Yorkshire?'

"If Rana takes part in the Indian Cricket League, he will automatically forfeit his Yorkshire contract. The situation is very much in the air, but the optimist in me believes Rana will see the value of playing for Yorkshire. If not, it means we will be forced to look elsewhere for an overseas player."

Rana spoke at length to Regan last night and is disturbed by the situation he finds himself in. He has signed a binding three-year contract with ICL. If he honours it, he will be barred from authorised leagues worldwide. If he pulls out, he will be sued for breach of contract.

Yorkshire's sympathy is not bottomless. They were understandably furious about Rana's double dealing when they gave him prolonged treatment at Headingley in the New Year, agreed that he should miss the early weeks of the season to rest a shoulder injury and then discovered that he had signed for the ICL. They already have cover in the form of the South African Morne Morkel.

Sussex have most reason to be unsettled. They could lose Mushtaq Ahmed, their inspirational Pakistani leg-spinner, the overriding factor in their three championship wins - the only ones in their history - in the last five years.

Gus Mackay, Sussex's chief executive, said: "We are working hard to clarify the situation with the ECB." Murray Goodwin, another ICL signing, will not be affected because he qualifies not as an overseas player but under EU free trade agreements.

Test nations are united in their attempts to kill off the ICL, whilst gradually finding a way to accommodate the official Indian Twenty20 competition - the Indian Premier League - into the official calendar. Despite denials by the ECB's chairman, Giles Clarke, there remains a chance that England players will take part in it next Spring.

The ECB indicated after a meeting of the management board in Birmingham on Tuesday that they would support any country which objected to the involvement of their one of players in ICL. They stated: "Non English-qualified cricketers requiring a 'No Objection' certificate from their own country to be registered for cricket in England are unlikely to receive one if they participate in unauthorised events."

The ECB's stance has a hint of double think: the ECB will block overseas players at the behest of other countries, but English players who have signed up for ICL - among them Chris Read and Darren Maddy - will not face a county ban, but have merely been warned that further international selection is unlikely.

Pakistan remain implacably opposed to ICL, so are unlikely to provide such a certificate. Zakir Khan, the PCB's director of operations, has made clear: "Our domestic teams and players are like a family for us. Our stance remains that they are barred from selection for Pakistan and domestic cricket."

Hampshire are unclear about their short-term signing of Shane Bond. New Zealand Cricket terminated his contract in January, but neither Bond nor New Zealand pronounced his career at an end so Hampshire's chief executive, Rod Bransgrove, would have to surpass even his own great powers of persuasion to gain New Zealand permission.