New Zealand's ability to avoid the fall-out from the need to sign the International Cricket Council's sponsorship contract will depend on discussions between the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations and the ICC.

As part of the settlement reached today after a six-week strike, between New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association, a situation was achieved on the issue that saw both sides happy with the outcome.

The issue threatened to derail the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September and could still affect the lead-up to the World Cup.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said: "A solution was found that we can live with. The players themselves raised a number of issues, some of them were valid concerns.

"I recognised these existed. We didn't want to force them into a situation where they were alienated overseas with FICA."

If ultimately NZC found it didn't receive the funds it had budgeted for under the agreement surrounding coverage of future ICC events it had the right to cancel the contract.

Meanwhile, Snedden hinted that the Provincial 'A' (second XI) competition that he cancelled last week when withdrawing from the negotiations procedure, may yet be revived.

He also felt that medical checks that were part of the rehabilitation process for several players at the top level of the game in New Zealand had been maintained during the strike with NZC keeping those channels open through its medical co-ordinator Warren Frost.

© CricInfo