Claims made by former Black Cap Dion Nash yesterday at the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association press conference in Auckland have been refuted by the former chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, Christopher Doig.

Nash claimed that when he played, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) looked after the top three or four players and said "to Hell with the rest of you."

"Dion is quite wrong, he's simply quite wrong," Doig said.

He questioned the competency of the Players' Association leadership because he felt the leadership was not doing the players any credit.

Doig retains his faith in the players and believes the issue will be resolved.

When he first took the job, in November 1995, Doig said it was just before a World Cup and when he looked at the figures at the end of the financial year he felt the players were not being well enough paid.

At that stage there were three or four players on contract, some of whom didn't play due to injury or non-selection.

"The large majority of players were earning between $40,000-$45,000 which was not good enough in my mind.

"We grew the revenue pretty substantially and the players were the main beneficiaries of that," he said.

Doig said he was criticised at the time by former players and by NZC staff members as being too player-friendly.

It reached the point where in Doig's final year, 2000/01, 11 players in the Black Caps side earned more than $200,000.

At the same time, when he first took the job provincial players were 'quasi-amateurs'.

"They were earning around $3000-$4000 which was largely petrol money. I was desperate to improve their lot. They have been earning $15,000-$20,000," he said.

That was to be raised even more under the offer NZC put to the players in their latest negotiations.

At one stage NZC were looking at two-year contracts for players but the selectors had been reluctant to pursue that line because of the volatility of form and the insecurity of the selectors about the players who might qualify. Of the five players NZC had wanted to contract, three did not survive more than one year.

On the retainer system there had been three tiers in operation. About five players were on $50,000 or more, the second tier were paid between $30,000-$40,000 and the lowest tier was $25,000. That meant that at all times there was no more difference than $25,000 between the top player and the bottom player when prize money and bonuses were taken into account.

Doig said income insurance protection had been developed for the players and three of the players on the Players' Association, Dion Nash, Geoff Allott and Simon Doull had all benefited from it, Allott and Nash especially. Because of the payouts they received they did not have to work while they recovered.

A player retirement benefit scheme that gave players a lump sum payment when they retired was also developed for the players.

Doig said that there were occasional tensions between players and NZC but he didn't recall that money was ever involved.

The closest it got to that was when two players queried their positioning on the retainer list.

"At no stage did we ever get queried about bonus payments," he said.

Doig said there was anger at one stage that he was not supportive of a players' association but he said history had shown the advice he had received on the matter had been proven worthwhile.

At one stage he met with 18 contracted players and was prepared to listen to them about their desire for a players' association.

He showed the players the financial position and showed them the percentages of NZC's income they were receiving, which at that time were in excess of the percentages paid in Australia.

"I told the 18 of them that if there was a players' association it would have to include all first-class players and women players, and it fell over like a pack of cards.

"I believe we have just as much responsibility to look after the women players as we do the men," Doig said.

Despite the problems Doig felt the players' relationship with NZC had been pretty exceptional, and he thinks that will remain because it was reassuring that a chief executive in Martin Snedden who had been there and done that in cricket.

"I'm hugely confident we will get through this.

"The thing is the players are good guys, but they are not as well-informed as they might be," he said.

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