Conflicting opinions over CA’s financial situation as Marnus Labuschagne emerges on top
The players’ association remains unconvinced Cricket Australia’s financial situation is as bad as it has been painted on a day Marnus Labuschagne emerged as the big winner in the latest round of national contracts.
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Cricket Australia has opened its books to the players but failed to convince them there is a cash crisis on the day 35 male and female players were given national contracts.
Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh are three who made the cut despite missing out last year while Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis were among those who fell off the list.
Chief executive Kevin Roberts has faced an uphill battle to persuade stakeholders that the game is facing a cash crisis.
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Staff were left seething when about 200 were asked to stand down and accept an 80 per cent pay cut two weeks ago and Roberts apologised profusely to those who tuned into his video address on Wednesday over the way he handled the situation.
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Both players and states have been waiting on detailed financial information from Cricket Australia.
The Australian Cricketers Association concludes, from what it has seen, the situation is not as bad as has been painted.
“We have been seeking financial information from CA regarding CA’s forecast revenues, cashflow and cashflow facility,” player relations manager Brendan Drew told players in an email.
“We have received some information and have sought more which we expect to receive in the next few days.”
The ACA’s board will convene to consider this information next week and provide advice to CA and our members.
“From our assessment to date, we remain optimistic that the game is in a good financial position and has many attributes and benefits that other sports have not enjoyed. As a non-contact sport, cricket should be at the forefront of creative efforts to get back up and running.”
Cricket Victoria, which was in financial trouble before the pandemic, began laying off staff on Thursday but refused to confirm the scale of cuts — rumoured to include up to half the staff — when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.
Khawaja, Stoinis, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb and Nathan Coulter-Nile were all informed on Wednesday night they would not be receiving contracts for 2020-21 after being on the list the previous year.
“Uzzie was a difficult one for us, probably the hardest one,” chief selector Trevor Hohns said.
“He was ranked in two of the three forms of the game and unfortunately just fell out the bottom of the list.’’
The big winner this year is Labuschagne who did not make last year’s initial contract list but won an upgrade when selected for the Lord’s Test as concussion substitute for Steve Smith.
“He’s been a revelation and he deserves all the accolades he gets because he’s one of those players that work so hard. He’s probably one of the hardest workers in that group, but he’s dragging others along with him,” Hohns said.
Ashton Agar, Joe Burns and Kane Richardson were also added to the list.
Stoinis, one-day player of the year in 2019-20, was unlucky to miss out considering his T20 form and the approaching T20 World Cup (should it go ahead).
Cricket Australia contracted men’s players:
Ashton Agar (Western Australia), Joe Burns (Queensland), Alex Carey (South Australia), Pat Cummins (New South Wales), Aaron Finch (Victoria), Josh Hazlewood (New South Wales), Travis Head (South Australia), Marnus Labuschagne (Queensland), Nathan Lyon (New South Wales), Mitchell Marsh (Western Australia), Glenn Maxwell (Victoria), Tim Paine (Tasmania), James Pattinson (Victoria)
Jhye Richardson (Western Australia), Kane Richardson (South Australia), Steve Smith (New South Wales), Mitchell Starc (New South Wales), Matthew Wade (Tasmania), David Warner (New South Wales), Adam Zampa (South Australia)
Cricket Australia contracted women’s players:
Nicola Carey (Tasmania), Ashleigh Gardner (New South Wales), Rachael Haynes (New South Wales), Alyssa Healy (New South Wales), Jess Jonassen (Queensland), Delissa Kimmince (Queensland), Meg Lanning (Victoria), Tahlia McGrath (South Australia), Sophie Molineux (Victoria), Beth Mooney (Queensland), Ellyse Perry (Victoria), Megan Schutt (South Australia), Annabel Sutherland (Victoria), Tayla Vlaeminck (Victoria), Georgia Wareham (Victoria)
Originally published as Conflicting opinions over CA’s financial situation as Marnus Labuschagne emerges on top