No cash lost on stock market, says Cricket Australia chair Earl Eddings

Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings says the organisation has not lost any money on its investment in the stock market.

CA’s Earl Eddings has asked the AFL and NRL for tips on returning to play.

Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings has approached the AFL and NRL seeking advice on handling the return to the playing field as the game attempts to recover from a crisis that cost chief executive Kevin Roberts his job last Monday.

In a briefing to staff — which was dominated by questions about why the CEO had left — the cricket boss said the organisation had not lost money on its investment in the stockmarket, but was still facing a revenue shortfall of $80-120m because of the pandemic.

Relive the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on KAYO. Watch complete and condensed replays of the biggest matches. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

The crisis has seen 40 people lose their jobs. Batting coach Graeme Hick was one of the casualties, but cuts have been made to all areas of the game.

Cricket Australia also finds itself in ongoing conflict with the Australian Cricketers Association, which has filed a dispute notice over moves to slash the amount put aside for players. That process could see both parties in court.

The ACA was told two weeks ago that it would have to accept a reduction of over $200m, but that figure looks likely to be revised given the contents of Eddings’ address.

The financial crisis first came to light when The Australian revealed in early May that Roberts had told people of major losses on the stockmarket. He later backed away from these claims as the situation changed.

There were warnings from Cricket Australia that it could find itself insolvent if drastic action wasn’t taken, but Eddings told staff on Monday that was no longer the case.

While the stock position corrected itself early, Cricket Australia insisted on severe cuts that saw 200 staff stood down on 20 per cent of their pay, and 40 subsequently made redundant.

States were asked to take cuts to grants of over 40 per cent but after pushing back that figure was reduced to 25 per cent.

Eddings appeared to criticise Queensland and NSW officials, saying six of the eight state and territory associations had accepted the figure “in good faith”.

Those two states continue to hold out, refusing to accept the projections from Cricket Australia, and the WACA will not sign unless everybody else does.

Cricket NSW chairman John Knox has resisted accepting the cuts and his organisation has hired, not sacked, staff.

Cricket Australia has been seeking a bank loan of $50m since the crisis came to light and Eddings on Monday said again the deal was close to being done.

He said he had approached ARL chair Peter V’landys and AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan to discuss their experience of resuming competition during the COVID-19 pandemic.