South African franchises yet to recieve CLT20 prize money

The Warriors and the Lions, the two South African franchises who competed in last year's Champions League Twenty20, have confirmed they have not received their prize money from the tournament. The amount, totalling US$ 1.5 million for both franchises, was due to be paid out on the last day of January.

"We have not received any notification of the money yet," Cassim Docrat, chief executive of the Lions told ESPNcricinfo. "We understand that it takes a while to reconcile everything although we were told that the money would be paid at the end of the month."

Signs of a delay in the processing became evident last Tuesday at the launch of the Standard Bank Pro20, the competition which produces South African's two CLT20 candidates. Alviro Petersen was asked if he was enjoying his CLT20 money, to which he replied, 'I'm still waiting for my wallet to fill up."

At the time, both Docrat and Dave Emslie, chief executive of the Warriors franchise, were not concerned about the non-payment, because they expected the money to arrive by the end of the month. "The tournament ended in September and we think it's a very acceptable time period for payment to be made," Emslie said.

The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations' (FICA), however, disagrees. "It's simply unacceptable that three of the most financially affluent cricket boards in the world can seemingly sit on their hands for four months with no apparent sense of obligation to pay this prize money in a timely manner," Tim May, FICA's chief executive, said. The CLT20 is jointly owned by the BCCI, CSA and CA and the total prize money owed by them totals US $6 million.

May said that FICA has been told that payment "may be made in late January or early February." He added that participation fees, which were due to be paid no more than 20 days after completion of the event on September 26, 2010, had also not been paid. "We will be assessing our various options regarding recovery of these outstanding amounts for the 2010 event should the monies not be received within the next couple of weeks."

The two South African franchises will receive notification from CSA when the money is successfully transferred from India. On receipt, it will be divided among all six local franchises. The Warriors, who reached the final of the CLT20, will be awarded the biggest share. Despite their imminent riches, Warriors captain Davy Jacobs is in no hurry to receive his cheque. "We will get it at some stage. The later, the better," he said. "By then we would have forgotten all the silly things we want to do with it and will spend it properly."