Cricket Australia’s chair Dr Lachlan Henderson is keen to welcome Tim Paine back to the game
Cricket Australia is finally ready to do two things – appoint an ethics commissioner and welcome back Tim Paine. Chairman Lachlan Henderson opens up on healing old wounds.
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Cricket Australia’s chair Dr Lachlan Henderson is keen to welcome Tim Paine back to the game and has even thrown the door open for David Warner to meet with the board as wounds from recent issues are readdressed.
Henderson also indicated the game may not have treated Paine as well as it could at the time.
In an exclusive interview with the Cricket Et Cetera podcast, the West Australian who assumed the head job in February revealed the organisation was finally ready to fulfil one of the key recommendations of 2018’s culture review and appoint an ethics commissioner.
“The ethics commissioner appointment is imminent and likely to be made this month,” Henderson said. “I will keep you posted with that.
“I think it is an important step forward, it is something that I committed to in coming into the role as chair and I think it is a good step forward for cricket.”
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Henderson was asked if an ethics commissioner may have been useful as the organisation dealt with public revelations about a four-year-old sexting scandal involving Paine last November.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I think while we had conversations that were appropriate as a board and with the management team, obviously with the captain and his management.
“I think an external view, having someone who can offer advice based on evidence and based on their experience with these matters would be helpful.
Paine, who News Corp revealed on Sunday is planning a comeback to domestic cricket, stood down as captain when the matter became public – despite Cricket Australia having previously investigating the matter and clearing him of any offence.
Co-host of Cricket Et Cetera Gideon Haigh claimed Paine was subject to “an unwelcome degree of double jeopardy”.
“What’s the point of a Code of Conduct when it only applies where matters are confidential and their conclusions can be retrospectively voided, and complaints effectively re-heard in the event of them becoming public?” Haigh asked.
Henderson was not keen to revisit the topic but flagged that perhaps some things could have been better handled.
“I won’t re-prosecute all the arguments around the deliberations around the captaincy other than to just reiterate that Tim did resign the captaincy, we could have a conversation around the board’s role in that, the board’s role in a decision made before my time (but) I’m not sure that’s particularly helpful,“ he said.
“It’s really important to point out that nine months on we are really keen that Tim gets re-embraced into the cricket community, I think it’s great we are hearing some noises out of Tasmania that Tim is back in training and has a future as a player in the game.
“We don’t look after everyone as well as we could, if the board’s played a role in that then we are obviously apologetic about that, but moving forward is about having good people like Tim back in the game in what ever form that takes.”
Paine withdrew from all cricket to deal with mental health issues and had rarely been sighted in public until recently.
He and his wife Bonnie attended Pat Cummins wedding in Byron Bay and the man who replaced him as captain spoke from the heart about his friend and the toll it took at the Chappell Foundation dinner earlier this month.
“I know us players certainly won‘t forget him,” he said. “He’s brought the Ashes back from a series over in England, that’s huge. That hasn’t been done for 20 years.
“So, I think someone like Painey, firstly as a mate, you just want to make sure he‘s OK.
“Again, honest mistakes. I felt like he did the wrong thing, but he tried to fix the situation as best as he could.
“You know, these are personal things, everyone has them. I personally didn‘t think it was a huge deal and I really feel for him.”
Warner was convinced by Cricket Australia to sign a two-year contract with the Big Bash League following revelations in The Australian that he was seriously considering a massive offer to play in a UAE competition at the same time.
Money was found to sign him to the Thunder and now the debate has turned to removing his lifetime leadership ban which was imposed after the sandpaper scandal.
“It’s upon the board to reach out to me and open their doors and I can sit down and have an honest conversation with them,” Warner said on the weekend.
“The board has changed since back in 2018 and when all those sanctions were dealt. It’ll be great to have a conversation with them and see where we’re at.”
Henderson said the board was keen to engage with Warner.
“I think Dave’s going well, the conversations with David at the moment are with (CEO) Nick Hockley and that’s around the deal with the BBL which is a terrific thing for the BBL and hopefully a good thing for David Warner,” Henderson said.
“In terms of the conversation about the other sanctions we haven’t seen David in person at the board and that’s one thing I would like to see.”
Paine gain: Why exiled star should be top of BBL hit list
- Ben Horne
Former Test spinner Steve O’Keefe has called on Australia to bring Tim Paine back from cricketing exile and supercharge the Big Bash League this summer.
One of the BBL’s most experienced ever players, O’Keefe believes Cricket Australia owes Paine a debt for what he did to rescue the Test team in the wake of sandpapergate and should be offering the fallen captain a chance to exit the game on his terms.
O’Keefe says Cricket Australia’s recruitment drive cannot end with David Warner’s signature and must do whatever it takes to financially incentivise big stars like Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to play this summer … and is adamant Paine should be at the top of any hit list.
Paine took an indefinite mental health break in the wake of his sexting scandal last summer, but has not actually retired from any form of cricket and Hobart Hurricanes boss Ricky Ponting has already declared he wants the 37-year-old Tasmanian great back involved in the Big Bash.
O’Keefe believes it’s time for CA to chip in.
“I’m happy to sit here and say I think it would be a great move for CA and the cricket community to get Tim Paine back playing and involved in cricket,” O’Keefe told News Corp.
“Because of the work that he’d done when cricket was arguably going through its darkest moments –he brought us back into it.
“I’d love nothing more than to have that bloke come out and play, it’d be a great story.
“One thing the game doesn’t do well is the exiting part of players’ careers. And it doesn’t sit well with me how he’s finished up.
“He’s a player who deserved a lot better.
“He missed the Hobart Test last summer. (CA should be saying), ‘come back and help the Hurricanes win their first BBL title and go out a home crowd hero.
“(They should say) ‘we’ll top it up. We want you to do a bit of commentary, we want you to coach. We want you. Because of the service and what you’ve done for us, we’re going to look after you and we want you to grow the game for us rather than leave bitter and twisted.’
“I don’t know where he’s at. I don’t know him that well, but getting him to play would be amazing. People would turn up.”
Test captain Pat Cummins also rallied behind Paine last week at the Chappell Foundation dinner in Sydney raising money for youth homelessness.
Cummins said Paine deserved forgiveness.
“We certainly won’t forget him. He brought the Ashes back from a series over in England. That’s huge. That hasn’t been done for 20 years. He’s had some real significant accolades throughout his time,” Cummins said.
“Someone like Painey, firstly as a mate you want to make sure he’s OK. We all make mistakes. He did the wrong thing, but he tried to fix the situation as best as he could … I personally think it was a huge deal and I really feel for him.”
DON’T LET BBL BECOME LIKE THE A-LEAGUE
O’Keefe fears the BBL could become like the A-League is in soccer in terms of its ranking among the big leagues of the world if Cricket Australia doesn’t embrace privatisation.
“Good on CA for capturing lightning in a bottle early on. But now we’ve got to adapt and adapt quick because if we don’t we’ll fall behind and I don’t want us to fall into a trap where we’re the A-League of soccer and we’re the 10th ranked tournament compared to these other T20 leagues which have all the best players,” said O’Keefe.
“I’m a fan of privatisation because you need a seat at the table with these guys who are organising these leagues. Imagine if the BBL one day had access to Virat Kohli?”
PAY AUSTRALIAN STARS $60K A GAME
O’Keefe says when Cricket Australia is happy to pay $340,000 for overseas stars like Faf du Plessis to come out for eight matches, it shouldn’t hesitate over making the BBL too financially appealing for Australian Test stars to ignore.
“Pay them 60 grand a game out of the marketing pool,” said O’Keefe.
“It might seem obscene, two hundred grand for a couple of games. But it’s not really. Last year in Covid, they (CA) hired a private jet to fly over eight English players and didn’t even sweat over it.
“Faf du Plessis is essentially on 50k a game, so it’s not crazy money to pay for David Warner at all when he’s a guy who will put an extra 10-15,000 bums on seats.”
DRAFT TIPS
O’Keefe says he can’t speak for the Sydney Sixers and their strategy for next Sunday’s August 28 draft, but in his opinion retaining Englishman James Vince should be the priority along with signing a death bowler like Chris Jordan.
Cross-town rivals Sydney Thunder have a big decision to make over whether to retain English opener Alex Hales when he’s only going to be available for the first part of the tournament.
“If I’m thinking about that team, I’m finding it hard to go past Hales because I’m thinking, if I have to come up against them, he’s the one that can take the game away from us the most,” he said.
O’Keefe says Melbourne Renegades who hold the No.1 draft pick, desperately need multi-dimensional all-rounders, like Mohammad Nabi.
BBL star’s drastic solution to international exodus
Big Bash draft king Rashid Khan says the competition should be cut in half to stop global stars from staging a mid-season exodus.
Cricket Australia is facing the prospect that every single platinum player announced on Monday for the overseas draft on August 28 could be confirming they’re only staying for the first part of the tournament before jetting out to take up more lucrative offers from the UAE and South Africa.
At the most the BBL might get one platinum star committing for the entire seven-week season – not an unexpected result – but one that showcases the extreme battle the BBL faces to keep big name internationals in Australia when the cash being offered abroad is so astronomical.
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Afghan leg-spinning superstar Rashid, who will himself only stay in the BBL for 8-10 games before heading to the UAE, insists the mass exit is not all about money and called on CA bosses to slash the current seven-week duration.
“I think the shorter it is the best it will be,” Rashid told News Corp.
“If you go around the world to all the leagues (with the exception of the IPL), they’re not that long and it takes 25-30 days where the league just finishes up.
“Definitely in future as a player, you always want to start the competition and you want to finish that competition. I’m not a fan of leaving the team in the middle.
“ … I think the shorter the league, the maximum amount of the players will be available to play the full competition.”
Rashid is almost without question the No. 1 player in the inaugural BBL draft, but appears certain to be retained by the Adelaide Strikers, where he was born as a global T20 star.
The 23-year-old feels enormous loyalty and gratitude to the BBL as one of the leagues that launched his extraordinary career, and has declared that despite the exploding competition around the world, the Bash is still one of the best tournaments there is.
The challenge for CA is maintaining that status in a fiercely competitive T20 market where the biggest chequebook invariably wins – and length of season must be addressed when the next TV rights broadcast deal is signed in two year‘s’ time.
“I always enjoyed playing Big Bash. It’s one of the top three. (In terms of) leagues you enjoy the most and the competition is pretty hard,” said Rashid.
“Toughest cricket there and it makes you mentally (stronger) and skills wise better and better.
“(But) I think a month (long season) is something which does allow you to have the maximum amount of the best players playing the whole competition.”
Teams must take at least one platinum ($340,000) or gold ($260,000) level player in the draft, and financially there is no reason why clubs shouldn’t take someone from the top shelf given CA is propping up the $80,000 difference between gold and platinum contracts.
However, there is talk that the Perth Scorchers may decline to sign a platinum player because they will want someone available for the entire BBL season.
It’s unclear how many gold level players will be available for the full duration, but a team like the Scorchers may prefer to sacrifice on international quality for a tradesman who will commit for the full seven weeks.
That defeats the purpose of what the draft was created for – with CA and broadcasters determined to inject genuine star power into the early weeks of the BBL.
Other clubs like the Brisbane Heat are likely to take a different view though, and feel that if a superstar like Faf du Plessis, Liam Livingstone or Keiron Pollard can win them a few games early in the season, then it will be worth the investment, before their places are hopefully taken by returning Australian Test stars for the second half of the tournament.
Rashid has already been in dialogue with Strikers coach Jason Gillespie and expects to be in Adelaide again.
“I did have the chat and definitely, I’m not thinking about any other team to be playing for. I’m more than 100 per cent sure I’ll be able to play for the Strikers,” said Rashid.
UGLY BIG BASH FEUD AVERTED, BUT MORE TROUBLE INCOMING
Cricket Australia looks set to broker a peace deal with Chris Lynn, while Steve Smith will be given until the 11th hour to play BBL despite declining to sign with the Sydney Sixers now.
Sources say Lynn could play more than half of the Big Bash season with the Adelaide Strikers before leaving to take up a big money deal in the new T20 league in the UAE with CA’s blessing.
The pragmatic compromise being worked towards by CA boss Nick Hockley would save the game from the prospect of an ugly legal showdown with Lynn who might have been motivated to challenge any move to block him from going to the UAE as a restraint of trade in court.
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It’s not a perfect result to have the BBL’s greatest ever run-scorer walking out on the competition mid-season, but it beats the alternative of him not playing any part in the summer at all after he was dumped by the Brisbane Heat earlier in the year and unveiled as a signing by the UAE.
Nothing has been finalised with Lynn but there is confidence a deal can be agreed upon which gives Lynn and CA enough of what they’re both after.
The worry would be that the compromise with Lynn could set a dangerous precedent for future Australian stars eyeing big money from Dubai and feeling they can have their cake and eat it too, but the Queenslander is a unique case as a 32-year-old veteran with no local contract tying him down.
Cricket Australia is making inroads on improving the Big Bash by taking a horses for courses approach to handling each individual case – with a landmark offer to David Warner to play in the BBL with the Sydney Thunder instead of heading to the UAE the prime example.
But another complex case has emerged in Steve Smith.
The Sydney Sixers were hoping to lock Smith away now, but the batting great has told club powerbrokers he is unsure about whether he will need a rest at that time and therefore doesn’t want to take up a roster spot which could go to a player committed to the entire season.
— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) June 7, 2022
But there is also the question of whether Smith ought to be entitled to a CA topped up contract like Warner, rather than simply accepting an average deal included in the salary cap.
Whether or not the Sixers choose to keep a roster spot upon for Smith in the hope he changes his mind come the end of the Test summer will depend on how they perform in the upcoming BBL draft on August 28.
If the club feels they have all bases covered in the batting department, the club may decide to move on and fill that 18th roster spot with a younger domestic talent.
However, even if the Sixers fill up all their spots, CA is vowing to also show its pragmatism with Smith and not lock him out should he change his mind and fancy a few BBL games.
Last summer Smith was controversially blocked from signing with the Sixers, because rival clubs felt he should have gone into a pool which would have made him available for all teams to have an equal crack at.
But there would be no repeat of that this summer, and sources say the BBL would find a way to help the Sixers get Smith onto their books as a replacement player if he does change his mind late.
It’s understood Warner also expressed concerns to the Sydney Thunder about taking an opportunity that could go to a younger player but was assured they had the space in their cap – and a void in the XI – after losing Usman Khawaja in the off-season.
There is an acceptance that fast bowling stars Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood won’t play BBL due to the workload of the Test summer and the fact a massive Test tour of India will immediately follow in February.
However, Cricket Australia is determined to convince all other Australian Test stars to play.
Marnus Labuschagne joined Khawaja in signing on with the Brisbane Heat on Thursday, but losing Smith from the competition would be a huge blow.
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