Australia growing more confident of India tour at end of year but concede T20 World Cup looking unlikely
Cricket Australia have been heartened by recent discussions with the BCCI over the future of India’s proposed tour later this year - but they are less optimistic the T20 World Cup will go ahead.
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Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts is bullish about the prospects of an Indian tour later this year, but less so about the possibility of the T20 World Cup taking place in October-November as planned.
In a private address to staff the cricket boss, who is battling to convince employees, key states and players that the game is in a cash crisis, revealed he and chairman Earl Eddings have been in discussions with the BCCI.
“Earl and I had a really productive discussion with the BCCI this week,” he said.
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“The BCCI continue to be really enthusiastic about prioritising the India tour.
“We’ve assured them we’ve best-in-class bio security plans here that really care for the safety of their players and the safety of our players.”
According to reports of the meeting Roberts said he was “optimistic” the tour would take place in “some shape or form”.
“We’ve got robust plans in place to make the most of the opportunity of having India visit,” he told staff.
There has been talk India will play more than the scheduled four Tests and three ODIs. While some hoped they would add a fifth Test, two additional ODIs seems more likely.
India is also confident the tour, which is worth $300m in broadcast revenue to Australia, can continue.
“I don’t think it will be possible for India to participate in five Tests. There will be limited-overs games and plus we have to consider the 14-day quarantine guidelines. All this will extend the tour,” BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said recently.
India is keen to use the window set aside for the T20 World Cup in Australia for its domestic IPL series.
Roberts told staff the ICC would make a decision on the tournament at the end of the month and that’s its place in the calendar was not as assured as the India tour.
While Australia would normally be reluctant to release contracted players at the start of the season to participate in India’s domestic league, the prospect of the powerful BCCI co-operating fully with the summer tour should help remove obstacles.
An Indian tour provides the local board the biggest windfall in terms of broadcast deals.
Players usually participate in the IPL during their eight-week holiday period which is about to end, but the tournament was postponed and they spent the time at home.
India is considering moving the IPL to either the UAE or Sri Lanka in October-November to overcome problems with the pandemic at home.
The optimism about India’s tour appears to relieve doomsday predictions which had Cricket Australia originally considering 50 per cent reductions in spending and even the current insistence they be reduced by 25 per cent.
The organisation has stood down most of its staff on 20 per cent pay until the end of June and encouraged states to slash budgets.
While some have accepted the directive, NSW and Queensland have held out and WA will only agree if all other states do.
As reported by News Corp Australia last week, the NSW board does not accept there is no need for the financial panic and resolved at its board meeting that they would not accept a reduction in grants.
NSW is still waiting on financial details more than a month after the headquarters announced the game was suffering a cash crisis.
The board and executive believes the increased likelihood of an Indian tour further endorses their position.
Cricket Australia appears to have moved away from plans to reduce the WBBL season this year with moves to save money by conducting the tournament in Sydney and Melbourne to reduce costs. Working groups are considering other savings, including cutting back on providing kit bags and uniforms to players, dropping the fireworks and other trimmings.
The move to slash costs has upset the broader cricket community since the moves were flagged on April 17.
Even coach Justin Langer found himself among the group reduced to two days work a week. He described himself recently as a full-time coach on a part-time wage.
Roberts explained at the time that the coaches did not have as much work to do at this time of year.
Big guns get jump on rivals in early return to training
Steve Smith and David Warner have wiped out plenty of bowling attacks, but they’ll be required to wipe down their own benches when Australia’s Test stars return to work on June 1, writes Ben Horne.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the biggest international cricket names in the country have been cleared by the NSW Government to start training again in 11 days under strict biosecurity protocols.
Cricket Australia’s high performance base in Brisbane remains shut down indefinitely, but Cricket NSW’s training headquarters at Sydney Olympic Park has been granted the same government exemptions as the NRL and AFL to resume net sessions and gym work for the Blues and their horde of Aussie reps.
If there was one state to get a head start on the rest of the country, Australian coach Justin Langer will be pleased it’s NSW, with Smith, Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa and Sean Abbott headlining the nucleus of superstars all given the green light to get back into the nets ahead of a possible mission impossible return to cricket in England in September.
The Daily Telegraph understands Cricket NSW have state government approval to train groups of 10 training in the nets or the gym at any one time, even though they are indoor spaces.
Cricket Australia medical chief Alex Kountouris said on Wednesday other states were still limited to only one-on-one training.
The ground floor of the Sydney Olympic Park facility will be turned into a biosecurity bubble, with entry and access to be heavily restricted.
Players will be specifically instructed to only turn up 5 minutes before each session, where they will have their temperature taken and be assigned for either net training or gym work.
After an hour, those players, including Australia’s highest paid cricketers will be expected to clean and disinfect their area, and then avoid any interaction with the next wave of players who will arrive for their sessions.
Training sessions will allow a maximum of one batsman and two bowlers per individual net. Or one batsman, one bowler and one coach.
The fact cricket pre-seasons are mainly conducted indoors was presenting one roadblock for administrators, but Cricket NSW’s state-of-the-art facility – including six indoor nets – has satisfied the government’s arrangements allowing professional sportspeople to train.
There is enough room in the facility to abide by the one-person per four-square metre role and also abide by 1.5 metre social distancing requirements.
Cricket NSW will fence off an area between the nets and gym to make two clear spaces and players will rotate in and out of their stations in an anticlockwise direction so as to avoid contact with other groups.
Players will be banned from using saliva and will likely use their own individual ball to bowl with – a ball which might be disinfected before training.
Kountouris admits there’s no knowing when Langer will be allowed to get his full Australian squad back together again, but the NSW government has provided a major breakthrough in continuity.
“That’s all up in the air at the moment. We’ll be guided by the government,” said Kountouris.
“At the moment we don’t have a schedule and don’t know when we’ll be playing our next tournament so we don’t really have to worry about that.
“Our priority is to get players who have just come off leave into some low level training then gradually build that up. Eventually both our international and state players will have to train as groups and the international players will have to get together in a camp-like environment but we aren’t even close to that at the moment.”
The delicate operation of getting Australia’s biggest name cricketers back to work after several months stuck at home has been carried out under tight framework provided by the Australian Institute of Sport.