ICL fall-out for county cricket

Gillespie's Glamorgan deal in doubt

Cricinfo staff

February 29, 2008

Jason Gillespie's contract with Glamorgan is in doubt after he signed a three-deal to play in the ICL following his retirement from Australian state cricket.

Glamorgan held meetings on Friday to discuss the issue as it is a requirement of the ECB that any overseas player receives a No Obligation Certificate (NOC) before playing county cricket. This is also impacting on the likes of Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved with Sussex and Yorkshire facing up to the prospect of losing key players.

"Things haven't moved along as quickly as we would have liked today," Matthew Maynard, Glamorgan's cricket manager, told Cricinfo. "The situation is that if the NOC comes through we believe Jason will be able to play, if not then he won't. We want to do the right thing so we are just waiting to see how the situation pans out."

However, Gillespie insisted he was ready to fulfil both his deals. "I'm not up to speed with all those things. I've got a contract and I certainly fully expect to fulfil that contract with Glamorgan," he said. "But I'm very excited [about the ICL]. It certainly is a change. It's something I'm very much looking forward to. It's just an opportunity to do something a little bit different and it's exciting.

"The opportunity came up and I had to weigh things up. I wasn't sure what I was going to do - whether I was going to play on another season with South Australia. I was umming and aahing at that point. The body is feeling good so we'll see how we go; obviously I can't do the things I could do six or seven years ago, but I still feel I'm contributing."

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