Cricket Australia wants to reduce the number of players with central contracts as part of the new Memorandum of Understanding with the players’ association.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said on Friday he wanted a new contract system in place which will allow the board to reward players based on their performances through an incentive scheme.
Sutherland says he’s unsure how the players’ association will react to the proposal.
However, Australian Cricketers’ Association chief Paul Marsh argues the current system is already incentive-based.
“We want Australia’s cricketers to be the best-paid cricketers in the world and I’m pretty sure they are,” Sutherland told reporters.
“No one’s going to be worse off by this because the players’ performances will justify it.
“We have 25 contracted players. There’s probably four or five players who probably don’t play enough games within the year to get an upgrade.
“So those funds (base payments on contracts) could have gone to other players.”
Sutherland said the new system would take some of the guesswork and time-lag factor out of naming 25 players for the coming 12 months.
“One of the ways this could be addressed is by having a reduced number of contracts,” he said.
“You have a smaller group that they (selectors) have greater confidence in.
“The right people will get the right pay.
“No one likes change but we’re really confident we’ve got a proposition that’s in the interests of the Australian players and the players who do the work and win the games.
“Players get paid the same amount if we win four-nil against India or we lose four-nil.
“Does that make sense to all of us?”
Sutherland said the CA proposal would add flexibility to the contract system.
CA is also wrestling with a governance review which has recommended an independent commission take over running the game from the current model of delegates from state associations.
However, the state associations would need to support the move from a 14-person board to nine.
New CA chairman Wally Edwards says a 14-man board is too big and has backed the reform.
“It’s ultimately a decision for the state associations,” Sutherland said.
CA also face a new round of media-rights discussions. Their current agreement expires in March 2013 and Sutherland is confident the success of this summer’s new Big Bash League (BBL) Twenty20 competition will boost CA’s bargaining power.
Sutherland said the BBL, which was given prime-time scheduling in December-January during the Test series against India, was likely to stay in the same slot next summer.
This means fringe Test players will face the same problem of having no first-class fixtures at state level during the Test summer to help regain fitness and form and push their case for selection.
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