CA bosses confident on Indian tour, but not World Cup

CA boss Kevin Roberts is bullish about the prospects of an Indian tour this summer, but less so about hosting the T20 World Cup.

India's captain Virat Kohli kisses the Border-Gavaskar trophy after his country’s first ever series win in Australia in 2019 Picture: AFP

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. “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.

Relive all the action from the 2019 Indian Premier League with Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

“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 in The Australian 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 in The Australian 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.