Payment agreement saves Masters Champions League

Organisers of the Masters Champions League have insisted that all players will be paid in full after late payments threatened the continuation of the tournament.

ESPNcricinfo understands that, after some team owners missed payments, several of the captains declared a deadline by which payments had to be met or they would decline to fulfil their fixtures.

As a result, the MCL's parent company, Grand Midwest Hotels, made cash payments to all the affected players. While some teams are still behind their payment schedule, all players have now received at least 25% of their salary with a promise that another payment will be made later in the week. By February 4, three of the six teams will be up to date with their payments.

The original agreement stipulated that players would receive their first payment of 25% upon signing their contracts and another 25% upon arrival in the UAE. But to ensure the MCL attracted enough high-quality players - and the likes of Virender Sehwag, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara are among the 90 players taking part - the contracts included a clause guaranteeing than any failure from the team owners would be compensated by the parent company. As a consequence, Zafar Shah, the GMH chairman, produced the necessary cash.