Cricket Australia should be encouraging its finest players to take part in the Indian Premier League, not trying to convince them to abandon the world’s best T20 competition.
The organisation’s patent desire to stop the country’s best cricketers from playing in the IPL is one of the controversies of the current contract dispute between CA and its players.
CA has offered three-year contracts to several of Australia’s biggest stars on the proviso they do not play in the IPL during that contract period, according to a recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
This issue has been overshadowed by threats of player strikes and of CA refusing to pay cricketers. As a quick summary of that situation, the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) recently declined a new pay offer from CA which would end the model of revenue-sharing.
This model has been around for the best part of 20 years and sees the players get a cut of the income created by Australian cricket. CA have proposed to remove domestic players from this model, giving them fixed contracts instead, with international cricketers to share a $20 million bounty – $16 million going to the men and $4 million to the women.
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CA have stated that if the offer is not accepted then the players will receive no pay after June 30. In response, the players are threatening to strike.
Amid all this I’m particularly fascinated, and shocked, by CA’s move to try to ban its gun players from the IPL. This is just the latest example of disrespect for Twenty20 cricket from CA, who have long treated it like a sideshow.
While other nations were taking the format seriously, and improving steadily as a result, CA had its players miked-up while batting or bowling, engaged in inane banter with TV commentators rather than focusing solely on winning.
CA wedged international Twenty20 series into the yearly schedule, seemingly as an afterthought, and continue to do so. Consider the fixturing debacle which occurred in the lead-up to last year’s marquee World T20 tournament.
Just six weeks before the World T20 started, Australia hosted India for a three-match Twenty20 series. Such a series against a top opponent was crucial preparation, especially considering Australia had only played one solitary Twenty20 match in the previous 14 months.
Think about that for a moment – CA cared so little about T20s that they allowed the national team to go more than a year while playing just a single game.
Then they made a mockery of the series against India by scheduling an ODI series in New Zealand just three days after the Twenty20 contests. This meant that Australia had a second-string line-up for the last two of those Twenty20 matches, resulting in an embarrassing 3-0 loss to India who, by contrast, fielded their strongest possible XI in each fixture.
To no one’s surprise, Australia promptly flopped in the World T20.
AP Photo/Themba Hadebe
CA’s contempt for T20s is a key reason why Australia always have been an ordinary side, despite having enough talent to be a consistently elite team.
Now CA want to hamstring the Australian team’s development further by effectively banning their best players from the IPL. The Fairfax report stated the three-year contracts with an IPL clause had been offered to national captain Steve Smith, gun opener David Warner, and quality quicks Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
If these cricketers did not play IPL for the next three years then when, exactly, would they get to polish their T20 skills? The packed home summer schedule prevents these top cricketers taking part in the Big Bash League if they’re playing Tests and ODIs.
Their T20 participation could be limited solely to international matches, which would leave them pretty rusty considering Australia has only played 16 T20Is in the past two-and-a-half years. Smith, Warner and Cummins have played almost that many IPL games in past six weeks.
The IPL is crucial for the likes of Smith, Warner and Starc, who otherwise get to play very little T20 cricket. It is these superstars who can potentially lead Australia to the top of the Twenty20 rankings and to a first-ever World T20 win. So depriving them of games makes little sense.
Given the comparatively limited physical demands of T20 cricket, none of them should be burned out by the time they finish with the IPL and return to international duty. If anything, Australia’s chances of winning next month’s Champions Trophy ODI tournament should be boosted by the fact Smith, Warner, Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Lynn, Moises Henriques and Adam Zampa have been in form ranging from good to great in the IPL.
Those players should enter the tournament nicely warmed up, even if it is a different format. They’ll also have developed and/or honed T20-specific skills in India which will be of use when playing T20Is for Australia.
It’s understandable the threats of player strikes and payments being ceased by CA have grabbed the headlines. But the IPL contract clause could have massive ramifications for the Australian Twenty20side as it tries to lift itself out of perennial mediocrity.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Fair point. He should certainly have got a game or two earlier in the season.
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
I am not suggesting conspiracy theories, Smith and khawaja must be good pals, what I am saying is shouldn't he just get a game in ipl after the tough period he has gone through with the selection? After all it is sports, he ought to get a game in 15 league matches being an overseas player, particularly under his own national captain. Why is ipl so important, it should just be t20 fun and Smith should relax!
Peter
Roar Rookie
One thing that annoys me about all this is that guys like Warner would be nothing without Australian cricket. So to now threaten that they won't be playing The Ashes, even if it's just some kind of bargaining positioning, is incredibly disrespectful of what made them so wealthy and well known.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
More than that in a squad but only 4 max in the playing XI
Rellum
Roar Guru
I thought they were allowed 5 overseas players, or is that only in the squad?
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
I have not been following the IPL that closely, it looks to me like given that the team are only allowed 4 of 11 overseas players in a match there is absolutely no space at the top of the order (with Smith himself there )for Khwaja as they need the all rounder and bowler slots for the foreign players. So I am not sure there is a conspiracy theory here even if you are a Khwaja fan. But then I haven't been following it closely so maybe He could have played in one of the league games. Thakur is a bowler who took 3 wickets and had a crucial runout in yesterday's playoff match so he was probably a good pick I dare say.
jarijari
Guest
Unless the rule has been changed, national teams are permitted a maximum of three international T20 games per home season. The reason for this is simple -- the Big Three, India, England and Australia, promote their national T20 competitions. They certainly don't want an annual World T20, or any more national competitions. But the big thing that all cricket nations want to preserve is the 50-over international format. A one-day game, around seven hours, compared toT20's three and a half hours, that can be nearly twice as much advertising revenue in the 50-over match. Cricket doesn't want to kill the one-day format. They've got the ODI Champions Trophy in England coming up and it will be a winner.
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
Khawaja while missing the tour game in india and subsequently missing all four tests after a month long training for the same in UAE, now amazingly sat out in all 13 games for pune in ipl owing to the fact that he couldnt fit in due to team combination reasons. Now when stokes had left just before knockout stage everybody was so sure that he would be replaced by usman khawaja. But looks like even if pune falls short of overseas players with khawaja available steven smith will call up bhatias and tiwaris to fill up that spot.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
That giess of $4m was total income, including IPL, etc, not just from CA pockets. Maybe around $2.5m from CA.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
The amount of endorsements on offer are much larger in India. ,But most of the endorsement cash - unsurprisingly - goes to Indian players. Lee and Gilchrist both made some over there. Warner is seen (outside of the Nine comm box) as somewhat of a prat ; which won't help him. And being an international player adds significantly to player reputation, and endorsement value, even during the IPL.
bozo
Guest
Highest paid sports people on shore in Australia. If they are not happy, let them go. Lots of people would be happy to see them gone.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
thanks Cad. We'll always have Phil Carlson.
Felix
Guest
Maybe people are just sick of being jerked around by corporate fat cats and at the same time told their opinions are wrong by man-bun toting hipster baristas?
Homer
Guest
I will be curious to know if CA has thought through the knock on effects of preventing its players from participating in the IPL. For starters, there will be no 10% of the players fees remunerated to the home board in lieu of the NOC. Second, the BCCI may decide to play hard ball and stop all overseas tours in the October-February window. With no Indian tours, I am hard pressed to see how CA's revenue projections hold up.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
No his last test was in the 1977 Ashes tour.
davSA
Guest
They may come unstuck Ronan. The SA Cricket union plans its annual calendar with the IPL in mind. Its not just about the exposure to T20 that the players benefit from . It is the financial rewards for relatively little effort or stress. AB De Villiers is a major case in point . He has already shown through his actions that the IPL at this stage of his career is the priority for him. Should he be prevented from playing in it I suspect he will retire from SA cricket totally. Guys like Miller , Morris , Tahir and Amla will surely follow the bucks as well. That is almost half the starting line up of the Proteas at the Champions Trophy.
rr
Guest
CA cant afford to pay $4m to 5 players.They don't have enough money. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/sports/cricket/110517/cricket-australia-offered-steve-smith-david-warner-multi-year-contracts-to-forgo-ipl.html Here is the quote for the article "Warner's retainer with CA is estimated to be worth USD 2 million but he could earn as much as USD 10 million in the IPL alone over the next three years."
rr
Guest
All these players will easily give endorsements in India . I think Bret Lee made around $10 million just by endorsements and singing few songs in Bollywood. Ad industry is almost as big as or next to US here. Many of the Bollywood stars are in top 20 rich celebrities. So if many Australians players do forgo the CA contract .they can easily make the money here . Plus they will be ready to play more T20 leagues like CPL,Natwest Blast ,etc
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
This story just gets curiouser and curiouser. As Aussie VC, Warner would definitely not be throwing around these threats needlessly. And while I have no visibility on why the Indian board does not allow players to play in foreign T20 Leagues (its as ridiculous as Yusuf Pathan who plays for KKR being denied permission to play in the new league starting in Hong Kong. For one Yusuf hasnt played for India in years, and honestly playing T20 in HK is hardly going to be taxing to anyone's health) but the Board is in the midst of radical change (clearly for the better) so BCCI policies will undergo a sea change in the coming years is my take. This cannot be a CA tactic to negotiate with a BCCI that is currently being run by a Court appointed committee and is largely dysfunctional. There is no one to negotiate with anyway! It just seems like an immensely stupid and avoidable confrontation at this stage.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
oops that last word should be "reporters".