IPL contract compromised SA cricket: report

During the 2009 Indian Premier League, Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola had signed a contract with the former IPL chairman Lalit Modi which favoured the league organisers and brought serious risk to the affiliates of CSA, a report in Johannesburg said.

"On the face of it, the contract strongly favoured the Indians, who had approached South Africa at the eleventh hour to host their tournament amid election security concerns back home," Mail and Guardian newspaper said, after examining a copy of the contract.

CSA had refused to disclose the contents of the agreement, which was allegedly signed by Majola without consulting the CSA board.

A bonus of more than one million rand that the IPL paid to Majola and nearly 8,00,000 rand to his chief of operations, Don McIntosh, subsequently became the subject of controversy until Majola handed his bonus back and was rapped on the knuckles for not reporting it to his superiors.

The IPL contract had angered provincial cricket bodies which were denied a request to see its contents, especially as it "compromised all the provinces -- they gave away all our rights", the weekly said, quoting an unnamed official.

"They gave away rights that weren't even ours to give away, from parking to occupying suites and arrangements with stadium vendors. There's no way that anyone can make a decision of this magnitude without running it past the board."

The official added that in at least one stadium this had led to 30 per cent of the suites standing empty after the IPL because disgruntled suite holders had decided not to renew their contracts.

The IPL contract and its repercussions have come back to haunt Majola, who has maintained a silence throughout the controversy after his boss, CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka, publicly accused him of having lied to him about the IPL bonus.

CSA spokesperson Kass Naidoo also declined to comment, citing the current emphasis on the World Cup that starts in the subcontinent later this month.

The Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula is to meet the CSA Board on Saturday in an effort to resolve the impasse in the cricket management structure.