If reports in cricket.com.au are to be believed, a Melbourne based cricket club is just a few steps away from signing bigwigs of the game Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle for their T20 games this summer. The Mulgrave Cricket Club, who takes part in Melbourne’s Eastern Cricket Association (ECA) third-tier competition stated that the club is within touching distance of signing both Yuvraj and Gayle while they are also in talks with Windies legend Brian Lara and Mr 360 AB de Villiers.
Earlier this club had secured the services of Tillekeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga besides signing a contract of the head coach with Sanath Jayasuriya. Speaking on the same, Mulgrave President Milan Pillianayagam said that they are almost 85-90 per cent sure about their chances of signing Yuvraj and Gayle as they have already signed big players in the past.
"We've secured Dilshan, we've secured Sanath, we've secured Tharanga. And now we are working on finalising agreements with a few other potential players," Pullenayegam told cricket.com.au.
"We are in negotiations, and with Chris (Gayle) and Yuvraj we are nearly 85 to 90 per cent there. We need to finalise a few things but it looks really good." he added. However, both Gayle and Yuvraj is to comment on this development. The president is hoping to bring in more sponsors which will enable them to sign some big names of the cricketing circuit.
"We've got a good backing at the moment that will get us across the line, but we don't want to be just breaking even on it, we want to be able to give back the community and expand the structure of the club,” he said.
"It's a process, with these big-name players there's a lot of things we need to incorporate into their visits to Australia; we'll provide them with accommodation, their travel, food etcetera, there is a lot of background stuff we need to organise for them," he said talking about the necessary arrangements that need to be made.
"While here we want to put them in contact with our sponsors and see if they can give something back to the club and sponsors. So it's all part of the negotiations and chats we are having with them,” the president further explained.
The third tier T20 Cup will comprise of three preliminary matches before a knockout stage including three more games between November and February. Meanwhile, it must be noted that any international player is only likely to play one or two matches.