Coronavirus threat: Australia cricketers back need to take pay cut if it ‘ensures game survives’
Australian cricket captain Tim Paine says the national team would certainly look at a pay cuts if called upon ‘to ensure the game remains healthy for years to come’ after seeing off COVID-19.
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Australia’s best cricketers would happily reach into their deep pockets should the sport’s immunity to the economic disasters sweeping the world run out.
Captain Tim Paine on Tuesday said discussions regarding pay cuts were likely to take place in the next week, following Cricket Australia’s decision to delay player contracts.
“There’s a fair bit of water to go under the bridge from a cricket sense, but certainly if things similar to what’s happening in football and other sports then we’ve certainly got to do our bit to ensure the game survives and remains healthy for years to come,” Paine said.
“If it comes to that I’m sure that’s something the players will look at. But there’s bigger issues going on around the world then how much our sportsmen are getting paid.”
The Australian Cricketers’ Association emailed members on Monday night attempting to ease payment concerns.
The player union explained that the major revenue-generating events — the T20 World Cup and home Test series against India — were still six months away.
Should COVID-19 impact those marquee fixtures, the email reinforced that CA has piles of emergency cash stored away, and has also profited above forecasted budgets recently.
That should provide the players a significant buffer before their salaries are slashed.
Paine had his wallet stolen out of his car on Tuesday morning after parking on the street to create room for a personal gym in his garage.
The hungry thieves purchased a feast from McDonald’s on Paine’s credit cards before NAB contacted Paine to alert him to the suspicious activity.
The skipper conceded that “you don’t have to be Einstein” to realise the scheduled two-Test tour of Bangladesh would not go ahead in June.
But like most sports around the world, cricket is preparing for a backlog of series to be fed into the cluttered schedule once the lights go back on.
Australia has already lost two home ODIs against New Zealand and three T20s across the Tasman.
The Bangladesh tour and July’s white-ball tour of England (three ODIs and three T20s) are both likely to fall over.
Australia sits second on the World Test Championship ladder and Paine, 35, is desperately hoping next year’s final at Lord’s is not pushed back because of coronavirus.
“Some series (for points) have been cancelled and whether ones going forward are going to be continually cancelled or we’re going to postpone them (isn’t clear),” Paine said.
“Maybe the players are going to have to go through a period where we play quite a bit of cricket if we want to complete the Test Championship as it is.”
Before Australians were ordered to bunker down, Paine was planning on preparing for Bangladesh by facing Australia’s elite spinners over and over again at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.
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He’d just had his wallet stolen, but Test captain Tim Paine was still sure any potential pay cuts taken by Australia’s cricketers would be a “small thing” to ensure cricket’s health beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paine was woken at his Tasmanian home on Tuesday by a text from his bank alerting him to irregular purchases made at McDonalds on his credit card. He walked outside to see his car — on the street where it had been moved to make room for a garage gym — open and his wallet stolen.
The wicketkeeper laughed off the setback on Tuesday, while also keeping perspective as the world contends with the health and economic impacts of the deadly coronavirus.
Elite cricket in Australia has been relatively spared by the timing of the virus’s spread, and Paine admitted not much had changed in his life as he enjoyed some rare downtime at home with his wife and kids.
Contract announcements have been delayed though, while the captain thought Tests in Bangladesh set for June appeared likely to be postponed or cancelled. Professionals playing Australian football codes have copped varying degrees of pay cuts and Paine said if it came to that for cricket he was sure his colleagues would understand.
“We’re not yet (bracing for pay cuts), but discussions (about new contracts) will start to happen in next week or so,” he said.
“There’s a fair bit of water to go under the bridge in a cricket sense, but if things happen similar to what’s happened in football and other sports we’ve certainly got to do our bit to make sure the game survives.
“If it comes to that, I’m sure that’s something the players will look at. “But there’s bigger issues going on around the world than how much our sportsmen are getting paid, so that’ll be a small thing for us if it was to happen.” A short-form tour of England is also scheduled for July, while Cricket Australia remains hopeful it will be able to go ahead with hosting the T20 World Cup from October.
India then arrive in Australia for the Test summer and England will follow in late 2021.
The inaugural world Test championship will be played between those series in June and is the only definitive focus for 35-year-old Paine, who won’t put an expiration date on his career.
“I hope they don’t push it back too far (because of the coronavirus) for my sake, that’s for sure,” Paine said.
“Players are certainly enjoying that points system and the fact that every Test counts and you’re playing towards a premiership if you like. “So I think players would be in favour of finishing that any way we can but if it doesn’t happen there’s bigger issues in the world.”