!!!!!CRICKETER BLOG !!!!!!

The ICC has rejected the Indian Cricket League's application for official recognition and has said the status of the league's players will be decided by individual member boards.

The decision was taken by the ICC at its board meeting in Dubai on Saturday. The application had been filed last year by the ICL, which is owned by India's largest media group, Zee Telefilms, and is not recognised by the Indian board or the ICC.

A statement from the ICC said it had examined the application against existing criteria for approving such requests, including whether the home board's approval had been secured.

"The board gave the matter careful consideration but, looking at the criteria set out in the regulations, felt the application for approval could not be granted," the ICC's chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, said.

Asked about the legal implications of the decision, Lorgat said: "If it becomes a legal action we will take it as it comes and will not make any comments on that."

"It's absolutely unfair and extremely disappointing," Kiran More, an ICL board member, told Cricinfo. "We will now definitely take the legal route for resolution of this issue. We could have done that earlier but were hoping for a fair decision from the ICC." The ICL, he said, was planning to approach courts in the UK, where stringent trade laws prevail.

On the issue of players returning to official cricket from the ICL, the board said the fabric of the game needed to be protected and a clear message sent out that players could not swap between official and unofficial cricket at will.

However, it was confirmed that the nature and scope of any sanction would ultimately be a matter for each individual member to determine, based on local conditions.

"It's a very unfortunate decision from a player's point of view," Deep Dasgupta, the former India wicketkeeeper who plays for the ICL's Royal Bengal Tigers, told Cricinfo. "To us, the official approach has always seemed a bit monopolistic. Over the last year, we used to wait eagerly for every such ICC meeting, hoping for a positive solution. But every time, it has been very disappointing. At the end of the day, we just want to play cricket, period."

The decision comes three days after the ICL announced that the third edition of its domestic tournament would be held in October. There was no mention, however, of the ICL World Series, in which national XIs are pitted against each other, a competition that had the ICC worried last year because it had the potential to develop into an alternate World Cup.

The ICC's stand essentially reiterates its position of last year, when it left the matter of sanctions against players to the individual boards, most of whom chose to ban them from all forms of official cricket. However, there were some exceptions like New Zealand, which has allowed some of their ICL players to play in domestic cricket.

Pakistan had initially imposed a complete ban on its ICL players but was then directed, by a court order, to let them play in the domestic circuit this year. The Pakistan Cricket Board then mooted the idea of allowing ICL players who are ready to cut all ties with the league to return to international cricket after a 'cooling period' of 6-12 months.

England, on the other hand, had a number of ICL players in the county circuit last year but they have since been eased out. The Indian and Australian boards have adopted the most stringent stand against the unofficial league, banning its players from all official contact.

Frequent showers ruined the first match of Sunday's double-header in Cape Town, reducing the target required by Delhi Daredevils to only 54 in six overs, a goal they reached with all wickets intact. The victory, however, was set up by Daniel Vettori's remarkable spell which brought an abrupt halt to Kings XI Punjab's burgeoning momentum and gave Delhi a manageable target to chase.

The game was first reduced to 14 overs a side, and then to 12, and the boundaries were shortened to exclude wet parts of the outfield. The pre-match conditions - overcast skies and a green-tinged pitch - indicated that the fast bowlers would find assistance at Newlands and Delhi packed their side with four seamers. However, their inexperienced new-ball attack - Delhi left out Glenn McGrath - struggled to contain the Kings XI Punjab openers, Karan Goel and Ravi Bopara, who raced to 67 in the first six overs.

Sehwag used his fast bowlers in one-over spells before the tactical time-out but turned to Vettori, the No. 1 spinner in Twenty20 internationals, soon after to stem the run-flow. Vettori had immediate success, trapping Bopara lbw with a straighter one, and bowled flat and straight, conceding only one run off his first over. Victoria fast bowler Dirk Nannes bowled another economical over to two new batsmen - Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh - before holding a well-judged catch at short fine-leg off Sangakkara's top-edged sweep to give Vettori his second wicket.

With only three overs to go, Yuvraj found his timing, clouting Nannes and Vettori for sixes over wide long-on and midwicket. Just when Yuvraj seemed to be making a push towards a 120-plus score, Mahela Jayawardene called for an ill-advised run and Vettori broke the stumps with Yuvraj well short at the bowler's end. Punjab then lost two more wickets within the space of three balls - Jayawardene was caught at long-off off Vettori and Piyush Chawla was run out without facing a ball. Vettori finished with 3 for 15 and was instrumental in pulling Punjab back to 104 for 7.

Gautam Gambhir gave Delhi an ideal start by driving Irfan Pathan over cover and flicking through midwicket for boundaries. Thereafter, however, it was all Sehwag. He flicked his first ball, from Yusuf Abdulla, over fine leg for six and lofted his second to the long-on boundary. The drizzle that had been around from the half-way point of Punjab's innings grew stronger and forced the players off with Delhi on 24 for 0 after 1.5 overs. When play resumed, Delhi needed only 31 more off 25 balls. Sehwag drove the first ball after the resumption firmly to the long-off boundary and effectively ended any slim hopes of a Punjab victory.

The pre-match conditions - overcast skies and a green-tinged pitch - indicated that the fast bowlers would find assistance at Newlands, but Delhi Daredevils' inexperienced new-ball attack struggled to contain the Kings XI Punjab batsmen. However, Daniel Vettori's three-over spell brought a sudden halt to Punjab's burgeoning momentum and helped restrict them to 104 for 7 in a match that was reduced to 12 overs because of rain.

The start of the game was delayed by more than an hour and the boundaries also had to be shortened because of a wet outfield. Delhi packed their side with four seamers, although they left out Glenn McGrath, and Virender Sehwag gave them first use of the conditions. When the teams took the tactical time-out after six overs, however, Punjab had just lost Karan Goel after an aggressive partnership of 67 with Ravi Bopara.

Sehwag had used his fast bowlers in one-over spells before the break but turned to Vettori to stem the run-flow. Vettori had immediate success, trapping Bopara with a straighter one, and bowled flat and straight, conceding only one run off his first over. Victoria fast bowler Dirk Nannes bowled another economical over to two new batsmen - Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh - before he held a well-judged catch at short fine-leg off Sangakkara's top-edged sweep to give Vettori his second wicket.

With only three overs to go, Yuvraj found his timing, clouting Nannes and Vettori for sixes over wide long-on and midwicket. Just when Yuvraj seemed to be making a push towards a 120-plus score, Mahela Jayawardene called for an ill-advised run and Vettori broke the stumps with Yuvraj well short at the bowler's end. Punjab then lost two more wickets within the space of three balls - Jayawardene hold out to long-off off Vettori and Piyush Chawla was run out without facing a ball.

Vettori finished with 3 for 15 but before he came on to exercise control over the innings, Punjab had made a superb start. There was bounce and movement for the fast bowlers if they hit a good length but Goel and Bopara ensured that they made loose deliveries count. Goel got going with a cut off Nannes through point but his best shots were reserved for Yo Mahesh, whom he pulled twice over the long-on boundary. Bopara also thrived against Sangwan, launching him over midwicket repeatedly. They provided the innings with tremendous momentum but the rest of the batting line-up failed to build on it.

Lowest innings totals
(excluding shortened matches)