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If the disagreement between Cricket Australia and the country’s cricketers drags on too much longer, CA will face the wrath of the sport’s most powerful group – the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Australia are scheduled to tour India in October for six limited-overs matches. The last time a team pulled out of a tour of cricket’s most dominant nation the West Indies earned fury from the much-feared BCCI.
The West Indies abandoned their tour of India in October 2014 midway through an ODI series due to a dispute over player contracts. This enraged the BCCI who cancelled all future series against the West Indies and lodged a claim for almost $50 million in compensation from the West Indies Cricket Board.
That latter claim was eventually withdrawn, no doubt in part because the WICB are too poor to pay even a fraction of that enormous amount. But India did not play a series against the West Indies again in any format for almost two years.
The BCCI may well be even more livid if Australia cancel their upcoming tour of India given that the men from down under are a far bigger draw card than the West Indies.
That tour in October would draw massive attention. Not only would it be Australia’s first ODI tour of India in four years but it would be riding on the hype of one of the most-watched Test series in history between the two sides earlier this year.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
The proceeds from television rights to that tour would be astronomical. So if the pay dispute is allowed to force the tour’s cancellation then Cricket Australia would not only lose their juicy share of those proceeds but also rile the BCCI.
Australia’s cricketers, if they hold firm, look likely to get their way in this dispute. That’s because Cricket Australia would have to take the massive risk of canning both this summer’s Ashes and a money-spinning six-match tour of India. And England have already declared that they will not take part in the Ashes unless the pay dispute has been settled.
Australia’s tour of India in October is scheduled to include five ODIs and a one-off T20 match according to the International Cricket Council. Australia’s assistant coach David Saker was in March announced as the head coach for that tour, standing in for Darren Lehmann.
The pay dispute has already resulted in the abandonment of this month’s scheduled Australia A tour of South Africa. The next series under threat is next month’s Test tour of Bangladesh.
Cricket Australia have never seemed keen on playing Tests against Bangladesh, let alone touring that country. So I can’t imagine they’ll be greatly concerned about the prospect of that series being wiped away due to the dispute.
But having to cancel the tour of India would be an entirely different prospect. The BCCI will be counting on that tour to rake in huge profits. They will surely find a way to make Cricket Australia hurt if the pay dispute is allowed to slay their cash cow.