Fringe Australian players James Hopes, Brad Hodge, Shane Watson and Luke Pomersbach are upbeat at the prospect of being put on the second auction of the Indian Premier League, even if they get only the crumbs left in the franchisees’ cupboard.

The quartet will be among cricketers the eight IPL franchises will bid on Tuesday with the money left after the first auction last month, according to a report by the Australian Associated Press, a news agency here. Team owners have varying amounts left and it ranges from Mumbai’s USD 53,750 to Jaipur’s USD 1.7 million.

Pomersbach, who made his international Twenty20 debut for Australia in Perth last December, said he was prepared to even play for free.

“I am pretty excited about it... It is a good opportunity for me and I just have to wait and see what happens. “I would be happy to go over for free and play that standard of cricket and cricketers. I will be able to learn so much from them, but I will take anything I can get,” he said.

This auction is expected to be relatively smaller than the first, which was worth USD 42 million. The amounts left with franchisees are: USD 374,000 (Bangalore); 23,750 (Chennai), 71,250 (Delhi), 262,500 (Hyderabad), 1,700,000 (Jaipur), 107,500 (Kolkata), 292,250 dollars (Mohali) and 53,750 dollars (Mumbai).

''If a team exceeds five million dollars (after spending) on players who were initially not available, but become available later, the excess expenditure will be ignored,'' said the official.

All team owners have to finalise their squads 30 days before the start of the 2008 season. The IPL kicks off on April 18.

Players for second auction are:
Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez (all Pakistan) Ashwell Prince (South Africa); Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills and James Franklin (New Zealand); Brad Hodge, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach (Australia); Prasanna Jayawardene Sri Lanka); Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh).

Buchanan excited 

Former Australian coach John Buchanan said the Twenty20 form of cricket and Indian Premier League (IPL) will help bring an evolution to world cricket, adds IANS from Kolkata.

Buchanan, attached to the Kolkata team, Kolkata Knightriders', landed in the city "I am excited about the new assignment. It is a whole new experience from what I have done before. IPL will bring about an evolution if not a revolution to the world cricket."

Asked about the game, he said, "From what I have seen in India, the game will be dominated by the batsmen. as pitches are batsmen friendly."