The most overpaid players in the Australian cricket team

There has been a big focus on how much Australian cricket consumers are paying for their players in the past six months.

We know who has given the best value for money, but what about the worst?

In the first piece of this series we built a data set combining the number of balls a centrally contracted player had bat, bowled and fielded in the past two years, and compared that to a high level estimate of how much that player had been paid over the past two years.

It showed Nathan Lyon was indeed the GOAT, delivering the best value of all of Australia’s current centrally contracted cricketers ($171 per ball). Rounding out the top five were Matt Renshaw ($272), Peter Handscomb ($274), Josh Hazelwood ($286) and Usman Khawaja ($326).

How about the worst value?

The list probably won’t surprise you. And the five players mostly have a very similar theme about them, which you will identify quickly.

As a reminder, this is a very shallow look at the value a Test cricketer provides. It doesn’t consider context, opportunity and quality of output, and the financial figures are based on a series of assumptions.

Five of Australia’s current centrally contracted cricketers haven’t played at Test level in the past two years, so you could argue they’re five lowest value

However, the results are instructive.

(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

In 15th place – is West Australian Hilton Cartwright. The fledgling allrounder cost Cricket Australia $1,331 per ball over the past two years, reflecting mostly reflecting his assumed retainer and limited opportunity at Test level.

Cartwright has played two Tests – one home and one away – batted for 125 balls and bowled for 54. He’s also been in the field for 2,199 deliveries.

Second last is Glenn Maxwell ($1,093 per ball), who is arguably on the list more for his short form credentials. Still, the explosive all-rounder has played four Tests in the past two years.

I’ve assumed Maxwell is in the hypothetical third tier of retainer payments, and he’s been on the central contract list for the past two years. That means he’s spread his retainer over very few games – increasing his cost per ball.

(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

In 13th place is Ashton Agar, a newcomer to the contract list but one who has seen very little action at Test level.

Indeed, other than Cartwright, Agar has been involved in the fewest deliveries of the 15 centrally contracted players. However, there is a step change between he and Maxwell, with Agar’s cost per ball sitting at $784.

Just ahead of him is Pat Cummins, who is another that has found himself on the central contracts list for the past two years despite a lack of international game time due to injury.

Cummins has bowled 840 deliveries over the study period, or about 20 per cent of the work Hazelwood has put in.

Now his body issues appear behind him, Cummins will certainly improve his value from $757 per ball to something more like fellow quick Mitchell Starc ($391 per ball).

The common thread amongst the bottom four on the list? For the most part, Cartwright, Maxwell, Agar and Cummins are project players who’ve been identified as having significant roles to play in Australian cricket, but who simply haven’t made the team on a consistent basis.

With an Ashes series and tour to South Africa coming up in the next six months, all will have an opportunity to provide more value.

Rounding out the bottom five is perennial back up, the Michael Kasprowicz of the current generation of fast bowlers, Jackson Bird.

Even though his value per ball is relatively high ($667 per ball), Bird’s output has to be weighed against his value as a ready-made back up for the younger quicks. He also looms as having an important role during the coming Test period should Australia opt for four fast bowlers.

The five most overpaid Aussie Test cricketers (based on workload)

That’s the list when players are compared on a per ball basis. What about if we look at more interesting metrics, like runs, wickets and fielding plays?

In terms of dollars per run, Peter Handscomb comes out on top with a rating of $888 per run. Close behind him is Usman Khawaja ($903 per run), and not too far behind again is David Warner ($951).

Rounding out the top five are Matt Renshaw ($1,059) and Steve Smith ($1,112), whose sheer weight of runs (2,275, at an average of 65) couldn’t quite make up for his assumed price tag.

The five most valuable Aussie Test batsmen (based on $ per run)

On the wickets front, there’s a clear number one: Nathan Lyon once again, with a rating of $12,654 per wicket. He was also rated number one in terms of overall balls batted, bowled and fielded.

In second is Josh Hazelwood ($24,820), just ahead of Mitchell Starc ($25,814).

The two fast bowlers were significantly further apart when just deliveries were taken into account, showing Starc’s value is more as a strike bowler.

Jackson Bird and Mitch Marsh round out the top five, but are significantly higher on a dollars per wicket basis ($51,190 and $60,850, respectively).

The five most valuable Aussie Test bowlers (based on $ per wicket)

(AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

Finally, dollars per dismissal. The number one here is obvious: Matthew Wade, on $17,368 per catch and stumping. In second is Steve Smith all the way up at $47,296 per catch (zero stumpings, obviously).

You can take your pick thereafter.

There we have it! This is quite a simple exercise in all, but it’s all for fun and sheds some interesting light on what is always a fairly contentious issue in Australian cricket.

If all goes well this summer, there’ll be a reduction in the dollars per run, wicket and dismissal across the board.

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