 Leicestershire are hoping Nixon can skipper them in 2009 |
Leicestershire's Paul Nixon remains confident of returning to captain the side next summer despite his imminent return to the Indian Cricket League. Nixon, 37, flies to Delhi on Saturday to team up with the Giants. He told BBC Sport: "Everybody who signs for the ICL is put on the ECB's high-risk list, but I've sought legal advice and I should be OK." The ICL, which began in late 2007, is not backed by India's cricket board and is regarded as a "rebel" league. By contrast, the other big-money Twenty20 competition in India, the Indian Premier League, enjoys the full support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has put various obstacles in the path of any ICL players who wish to play county cricket. However so far, despite a stiffly-worded ECB directive in March, no ICL player has been prevented from playing county cricket - with the South Africans Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp and Johan van der Wath winning a legal case on 30 April to have bans overturned.  | I don't feel there should be a risk because I signed the contract at the right time |
Former England wicketkeeper Nixon argues his rolling contract to play in the ICL was signed on 4 February this year, a month before the ECB ruled that anyone signing fresh ICL deals would get a 12-month county ban. An ECB spokesman declined to comment on Nixon's case on Thursday, but the player himself, who has two years remaining on his Leicestershire deal, said: "I fully expect to be registered next year. "David Smith the chief executive is an ex-player, so is my coach Tim Boon. They both know my reasons for going and they were supportive of me going for the first ICL tournament. "I don't feel there should be a risk because I signed the contract at the right time." | 606: DEBATE |
The Delhi Giants also have Durham captain Dale Benkenstein, former New Zealand paceman Shane Bond and the Sri Lankan Marvan Atapattu in their team. The next season of the ICL starts on 10 October and finishes on 17 November, and Nixon said he could earn "roughly three-quarters of my county contract for four weeks work". A senior county pro such as Nixon would expect to earn around �70,000 for an English season, which runs from 1 April to 30 September. Nixon was unexpectedly drafted into England's one-day squads in the last months of Duncan Fletcher's regime as coach, playing 19 one-day internationals in 2007. After making his first-class debut in 1989 with Leicestershire, he spent three seasons at Kent from 2000 to 2003 before returning to Grace Road. And although he turns 38 before the end of October, he feels he can extend his Leicestershire season into his forties by focusing on his batting. "It's becoming tougher and tougher to keep wicket day in, day out but I believe that with the lack of Kolpak players after 2010 there's going to be a very high demand on experienced batsmen in England." Nixon scored 954 runs at an average of 53 this season.
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