ACA chief praises Brett Lee for “selfless” contract rejection – Cricket News Update
Chief of the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Brett-Lee-c48419’s recent act of rejecting a contract with New South Wales in order to make more opportunities for youngsters, dubbing it a “selfless” move.
“It was a very selfless thing that he did,” said http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Simon-James-Marshall-c90362, adding that the possibility of other cricketers making the same move was highly unlikely.
With the new domestic contracting window having recently opened up for the 2012-13 season after a new pay deal was finalised by Cricket Australia and the ACA, state associations have begun to put together their contract lists for the upcoming season.
Lee was recently offered a contract with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
Owing to national duty, he explained that he would only be available for a few ODIs at state level in the upcoming summer, and in this regard it made sense to give the opportunity to play for NSW to a younger player. He did, however, go on to add that he
would be available for the team on a “match-by-match” basis.
For the first time since 1999, Lee found himself without a central contract, one among several victims of Cricket Australia’s current new system, which has cut the number of contracts offered from 25 to 17. However, players have the option to earn an upgrade
by playing matches and earning 12 points (2 points per ODI, 1 point per T20) in order to earn a basic retainer contract worth $190,000.
Lee is currently with the national squad on a limited-overs tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20 in September, affording Lee plenty of chances to earn his upgrade.
The veteran pacer also appears to be in fine form (having recently claimed two wickets in the first three deliveries of an only ODI against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 which was later abandoned due to rain), and is unlikely to find himself out of the national squad anytime
soon.
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