Less than 12 hours after it was announced that Australia's cricketers were willing to sign the International Cricket Council's controversial contracts, it has emerged that England's players are about to follow suit. "We are very close to sorting out the situation," said Richard Bevan, the England players' representative. "Australia have not actually signed but have agreed to sign based on a number of points and a new template. Pressure is building on the Indian board to do the same with the Indian players."

While ICC has steadfastly refused to offer any concessions to the players, it has agreed to look at the matter again after next month's Champions Trophy, and insisted that the contract players are being asked to sign is for the one event only. "Each event has a separate agreement," explained Malcolm Speed, ICC's chief executive. "ICC has not asked players to sign for the World Cup. At the moment we have asked them to sign only for the Champions Trophy." But he did add that he did not envisage there being anything but "minor" alterations to the contract.

Under the agreement made in Australia, and sent to administrators around the world, ICC will accept guidelines over deals, and a disputes-resolution process will be instigated. The Australian settlement also hinted that players might be compensated should their own sponsorships be in conflict with the official ICC ones.

"The agreement is a sensible and pragmatic solution" said Malcolm Gray, ICC's president. "This deal follows agreements in Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan and Zimbabwe and it is now up to the other boards and their players to find a solution to their own issues."

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