Deep pockets: players told cricket on solid footing but immunity to be tested

Australia’s best cricketers would happily reach into their deep pockets should the sport’s immunity to the economic disaster sweeping the world run out.

Australia captain Tim Paine says the country’s cricketers are bracing for pay cuts Picture: AAP

Australia’s best cricketers would happily reach into their deep pockets should the sport’s immunity to the economic disaster sweeping the world run out.

Captain Tim Paine said discussions regarding pay cuts were likely to take place in the next week, following Cricket Australia’s decision to delay player contracts.

“There’s a fair bit of water to go under the bridge from a cricket sense, but certainly if things similar to what’s happening in football and other sports (happen to us), then we’ve certainly got to do our bit to ensure the game survives and remains healthy for years to come,” Paine said on Tuesday.

“If it comes to that I’m sure that’s something the players will look at. But there’s bigger issues going on around the world than how much our sportsmen are getting paid.”

The Australian Cricketers’ Association emailed members on Monday night in an attempt to ease payment concerns.

The player union explained that the major revenue-generating events — the T20 World Cup and home Test series against India — were still six months away.

Should COVID-19 impact those marquee fixtures, the email reinforced that CA has piles of emergency cash stored away, and has also profited above forecasted budgets recently.

That should provide the players a significant buffer before their salaries are slashed.

Paine had his wallet stolen out of his car on Tuesday morning after parking on the street to create room for a personal gym in his garage.

The hungry thieves purchased a feast from McDonald’s on Paine’s credit cards before NAB contacted Paine to alert him to the suspicious activity.

The skipper conceded that “you don’t have to be Einstein” to realise the scheduled two-Test tour of Bangladesh would not go ahead in June.

But like most sports around the world, cricket is preparing for a backlog of series to be fed into the cluttered schedule once the lights come back on.

Australia have already cancelled two home ODIs against New Zealand and three T20s across the Tasman.

The Bangladesh tour and July’s white-ball trip to England (three ODIs and three T20s) are both likely to fall over.

Australia sit second on the ICC World Test Championship ladder and Paine, 35, desperately hopes next year’s final at Lord’s is not pushed back because of coronavirus.

“Some series (for points) have been cancelled and whether ones going forward are going to be continually cancelled or we’re going to postpone them (isn’t clear),” Paine said.

“Maybe the players are going to have to go through a period where we play quite a bit of cricket if we want to complete the Test Championship as it is.”

Herald Sun