Cricket’s cash or country moment

Bad look as IPL stars David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and others opt out of Australian tour ahead of T20 World Cup

International cricket is making for way for the riches of the Indian Premier League Picture: Getty Images

These are unprecedented times and these appear unprecedented acts, but the decision by at least seven Australian cricketers to give up their seats on the plane leaving for the West Indies later this month signals the approach of a moment long predicted.

Pandemic or not, it is still somewhat unsettling to see this exodus given there is a T20 World Cup at year’s end and the five T20s scheduled in the Caribbean would be handy as either a warm-up, audition or both.

When the IPL’s millions rained down like mana from heaven on the cricket world the doomsayers predicted a time would be upon us when players chose cash over country.

Adam Gilchrist returned from the first festival in 2008 and when asked if international cricket would one day have to find a space in the calendar to accommodate this supercharged domestic format (it did) he said the reverse would be true – the IPL would need to find a window for Test cricket (the ODI form is already withering away).

Those times aren’t quite upon us, but they’re closer and the Pentecostalists are getting twitchy.

International cricket will have to sit on its hands and listen to hold music three times in the 12 months from September 2020 to September 2021 to accommodate its players desire to participate in the IPL.

Players are in a fog of bubble fatigue, but the very same players knew when they went to the IPL they could have as little as eight days free air before being asked to take up their tools again for their country on the tour of the West Indies.

The postponement of that competition has given them a little more time at home, but if they return for its completion ahead of the T20 World Cup that’s twice as many quarantines, twice as many flights, twice as many trips, twice as many Covid tests, twice as many hotels, twice as many bubbles endured in search of an Indian payday.

Some 23 players were named in a preliminary squad for the West Indies last month and six players have been added to fill the gaps caused by seven who have chosen to drop out.

What makes the decisions to withdraw from the West Indies tour more extraordinary is that Australia is due to play a T20 World Cup this year. Places are up for grabs. If playing for your country isn’t enough a World Cup would have been a cherry on the cake.

All seven have excuses, some more valid than others, some known, some unknown. Nobody is going to question the very real mental effects of bubble life, but fact is if there had been no attempt at an IPL recently there’d be a lot less fatigue.

Pat Cummins’ wife is due to have the couple’s first child and an illness in the family compounds a difficult situation.

Steve Smith, who is reportedly undecided, reports a problem with his elbow.

David Warner has three small children who cannot travel with him.

Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson have also signalled they want to give up their places.

Jhye Richardson’s decision is understandable given undisclosed circumstances, but it would be foolhardy to judge all or any.

Aaron Finch, well rested because he missed the boat to the IPL, must be wondering what it is about his captaincy that has them rushing for the exits.

Australian players might not be playing much cricket but they feel as if they are living life in hotel detention. Not on the scale of the refugees our government detains with disdain, but trying nonetheless.

To put things into perspective consider Dan Christian and Ben McDermott who were over in the UK plying their trade for Nottingham and Derbyshire respectively.

Both he and McDermott downed tools when added to the squad to cover for the withdrawals and flew straight home. Both will serve two weeks in a hard quarantine and when they emerge catch a plane to the Windies where presumably they will live a restricted existence.

Christian was at the IPL, shipped himself from there to the Maldives, went from the Maldives to Bahrain before finally arriving in Nottingham.

He’d barely unzipped his bag when George Bailey called and said if you are up for a bit more of the same there’s a spot in the Australian squad.

The 38-year-old was on his way to the airport and another stint in quarantine seconds after Bailey hung up.

On a lighter note I offer this observation from Farokh Engineer this week on the English and their changed attitude to Indians and Indian cricket.

“We were all bloody Indians to them till a few years ago. Now once the IPL started, they are licking our backsides.”