Cricket Australia forced to open its books to players and states

Cricket Australia will be forced to open its books in the next few days to players and the various state bodies.

Cricket Australia boss Kevin Roberts has spoken directly to senior players.

Cricket Australia will be forced to open its books in the next few days to players and the various state bodies if it is to head off a crisis of confidence in head office.

There are moves to convene a national cricket body that includes all relevant parties in the same manner as the government’s national cabinet to deal with the situation.

The key stakeholders in the game were stunned to learn late last week that the game was in such a poor state, with cash reserves due to run out by August.

Around 80 per cent of staff were stood down on 20 per cent pay on Friday while others have been kept on part-time.

Cricket is contemplating financial disaster if India do not tour this summer. The game was budgeting on $300m in broadcast rights from the subcontinent — one of two big pay days in its four-year cycle. If the international summer was not to proceed as planned, broadcasters would be unlikely to pay the whole of the $200m they contribute annually to the game.

Cricket Australia banked $100m from the networks in mid-March, but has apparently burnt through that money and its existing cash reserves.

There are unconfirmed claims some commercial partners have defaulted on debt owed to cricket.

The game was blindsided by the announcement of the crisis situation on Thursday. Staff, including head coach Justin Langer, were stunned. Langer, perhaps the single most important person in the men’s game, and women’s coach Matthew Mott are now working part-time.

States were initially asked to wear a 45 per cent cut to the usual grants they receive from Cricket Australia, but the reaction was so hostile that chief executive Kevin Roberts and chief operating officer Scott Grant have come back proposing a 25 per cent cut.

A number of states who spoke to The Australian on Monday said their faith in the administration was being tested, one saying the response to the crisis had been “catastrophic”.

The administration is dealing with a suspicious Australian Cricketers’ Association, with relationships almost back where they were during the bitter pay dispute.

Cricket is supposed to offer central contacts to all national male and female players by next week and has signalled it wants them to take pay cuts on top of the losses they would normally incur as part of the revenue-share model, which was at the centre of the last MOU dispute.

Players have offered to have their contracts adjusted when revenue streams such as the India series are affected, but are not happy to take a pre-emptive hit. States offered similar arguments. There are moves to form a national body involving the states, players, head office and relevant parties.

The 2018 culture review recommended the establishment of an Australia Cricket Council involving similar parties and it has met twice since.

The ACA was surprised that Roberts approached senior players directly, a tactic that infuriated it during the MOU dispute.

The stock position at Cricket Australia has been a source of controversy and confusion with claims initially the organisation had lost $15m or more of the $90m its annual report says is invested on the stock exchange.

There are now claims the annual report is wrong and that CA has $36m invested in the market and the balance in securities. The loss position has eased somewhat to around $5m year-on-year and is still well in front of the initial investment, but people remain baffled by the cash situation.

Josh Hazlewood was not one of the players contacted by Roberts to explain the financial situation last week, but he said on Monday the players would be happy to bear some of the load.

“We’re obviously partners in the game and we’ve always said that. We’ve ridden the highs, now is the time to ride the lows a little bit,” Hazlewood said.

“We’ll see where it comes to and obviously play our part. As long as they show a lot of transparency on all the numbers, all the players will be pretty happy with that. So as long as there’s good communication between ACA and CA shown there to see exactly where we’re situated at the moment and moving forward.”