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New Zealand Cricket's (NZC) major associations are being advised to go global in the wake of Brendon McCullum's new-found allegiance to New South Wales.
The Otago and New Zealand wicketkeeper sparked headlines on both sides of the Tasman on Thursday when he was released by Otago to play for New South Wales in the final of Australia's domestic Twenty20 championship on Saturday.
McCullum will miss an important one-day match for Otago, against Wellington in Invercargill on Sunday but nevertheless got the green light from his association and NZC.
They insisted the clearance came only because Otago are guaranteed a place in the State Shield semifinals and McCullum will miss the playoffs because of national commitments.
NSW's motivation is that they will have access to McCullum for the $NZ11 million Champions League in India in October if his Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Kolkata Knight Riders, don't qualify.
New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA) executive manager Heath Mills supported McCullum's shift and believed the signing would be the tip of the iceberg.
If, as expected, New Zealand is granted a place in the Champions League in the next two years, Mills suggested all six associations here will look to follow the lead of NSW.
"These sort of opportunities are going to become more and more frequent and I think we have to get our head around it," Mills told said.
"Maybe our major associations need to start thinking now about getting in some overseas players on short-term deals to play in our Twenty20 competition.
"That would be great for our competition and those players would then be eligible to play for them in the Champions League should they qualify for that event."
The first Champions League scheduled for last year was postponed because of the bombings in Mumbai.
It was set to include two domestic teams from Australia, South Africa and the IPL, along with one each from England and Pakistan.
Any expansion, which could happen this year, is likely to include a New Zealand team and add enormous weight to the domestic Twenty20 competition.
"It would be brilliant for our domestic competition and we need to start thinking about the implications.
"Maybe it won't be a surprise to see an Andrew Flintoff or a Kevin Peitersen come down here for 1-2 weeks to play for a side and make them eligible to play in the Champions League.
"They need to be forming relationships with some of the bigger clubs in the world in terms of transferring players with each other. It might provide coaching and management opportunities.
"Brendon may be the first step in this."
Meanwhile, McCullum's move continued to cause reverberations in Australia today.
Numerous commentators and columnists had their say, with most in support of the 27-year-old's deal, which was brokered by his manager, former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.
Andrew Symonds described the McCullum's selection at the expense of a local as being "un-Australian" but the Australian allrounder was called a hypocrite on Friday by NSW chief executive Dave Gilbert.
Gilbert noted Symonds was happy to bank $A1.5 million ($NZ1.9 million) for playing for Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.
"He's happy to sign with the Deccan Chargers and deprive some local of a spot in their side. He can't have his cake and eat it, too.
"If this final was in isolation we wouldn't have brought McCullum over, but the Champions League has put everything in to a different stratosphere.
"There's so much at stake, roughly $A4 million for the winner."
Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the presence of overseas players on the domestic scene helped improve the standard of competition.
Ponting was unsure whether the inclusion of McCullum hindered the development of younger players but was mindful it was just for one match.
Sports betting agencies in Sydney adjusted New South Wales from narrow outsiders to favourites after news broke yesterday that McCullum would be opening the batting in Sydney.
Injury-struck opponents Victoria were seeking a high-profile signing of their own today, with chief executive Tony Dodemaide indicating former Australian stars Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne were in their sights.
