Warner holds all aces at Cricket Australia crossroad

It’s a surprise to no one that David Warner stands at the crossroads Australian cricket finds itself at.

David Warner has captained the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, a role he is forbidden from holding in the BBL. Picture: AFP.

It’s a surprise to no one that David Warner stands at the crossroads Australian cricket finds itself at.

‘So, what will it be,’ he asks, displaying a hint of menace. ‘Heads or tails? Warner’s your man for an existential crisis.

‘Your call, champion …’

The dilemma for Australian cricket is the 35-year-old’s desire to use January to play in the UAE T20 league. If the South African series was on he’d have done that, but it’s been cancelled. Cricket Australia was hoping that space would encourage its stars to play in the BBL and plan to ensure January is clear every year from this one for that reason.

CA could presumably cope if they didn’t, as some have indicated, but it’s a rotten look to have your biggest T20 stars actively involved with its rivals.

CA’s options aren’t great here. It’s heads he wins, tails you lose.

Warner knows Australian cricket needs him more than he needs it. A great servant of the international team, a man who should play his 100th Test this summer and one who has 200-plus limited-overs games, his career has defied the pessimist’s prediction.

One of the most valuable players in the T20 open market, he would be a jewel in the BBL crown in much the same way a Shane Warne or a Chris Gayle were.

However, you find the money to pay Warner enough to stay and play BBL and you will have all his Australian teammates suggesting they too get the same where once they accepted the industry award.

Glenn Maxwell is worth similar money on the world market, but has always been a keen participant in the BBL. In fact his last match was his 100th. How does he feel if his mate Dave, who has played a sum total of three BBL matches in his career, is lapping him on payday? Where’s the reward for loyalty, he might ask?

It is a question already being asked in a different context.

This year CA had found another $140,000 for each of eight international platinum class players in its new draft.

That had already caused some unrest among the existing Australians in the BBL who wonder why Faf du Plessis could potentially earn triple what they get for a third of the work.

On the other hand, if Warner is allowed to spend his January mining riches on foreign shores why shouldn’t others be allowed to do it? There’s an argument the game could stand in his way, but fortunately compromise seems more likely than conflict.

Making the BBL part of central contracts next year will at least make domestic participation part of the star players’ duties, but not guarantee a Mitchell Starc, let alone a Warner, turning out for a local club.

When Warner arrived many thought that here was something to be wary of. He presented as an agent of change. Warner was a hint of the chaos that laid ahead. Proof the ice cap was melting.

When he played that memorable innings for the Australian T20 side before he’d played a first-class match, people thought here was the first among them who would gorge themselves on the short format’s chocolates and spurn the traditional game.

It didn’t turn out like that, but here we are over a decade later and Warner is the one asking Australian cricket to make a choice, to show its hand, to reassess the value of things.

Will it let him play for a foreign franchise or will it put as much energy into bringing him back to the BBL as foreign stars?

The situation will embolden those advocating private capital be allowed to invest in the game. If it’s more money the league needs that’s an easy source of it, but it’s a profound change.

Warner holds the cards. He is coming to the end of his international career, should he choose to walk away completely from the international game he could earn as much, if not more, than he does right now.

It’s a zero sum game for him. It won’t and shouldn’t come to that, but it will for many who follow.

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley had never really met the Australian players until the group went to Pakistan. Covid, not contempt, had kept them apart, but it was notable that one of the first he made a beeline for in the Islamabad hotel where all were staying was Warner.

He’s kept a direct line of contact since.

It was good management, it’s better to have him inside the tent.

Warner’s nose has been out of joint for some time and many would argue with good reason.

Players past and present believe his lifetime leadership ban was incommensurate punishment for his mischief. Allan Border added his voice to the cries for it to be overturned but that ship has surely sailed.

Money will talk and CA should be considering a package to keep Warner. If it can’t match the $2m-plus deal to participate in the UAE T20 league it must find a way to make staying and playing the best option for him.

Ultimatums are the last thing anyone needs right now.

The Caribbean, the UAE and the South African domestic leagues which compete directly or indirectly with the BBL have bargaining power because their seasons are shorter, but most importantly because their pockets are deeper. Indian Premier League dollars are propping up all three competitions.

There’s a sense, or even a hope, that the BBL is biding time. Those who run it are intelligent and have done the best in a bad situation in attempting to attract foreign players, but what the tournament needs is root and branch reform.

It’s hoped they are in a holding pattern before a new broadcast rights deal.

The BBL needs fewer games and more money, but if it is determined to stick to the amount of games played now, it will need even more money.

Warner will retire in the next few years and will leave the international stage after 300 games for his country, but will the generation that follows choose the domestic dollar over the opportunity to play bilateral cricket.

For the majority the answer is most certainly not, but the balance will have shifted.

The IPL is looking to expand this year. Ravi Shastri suggested this week that a second tournament is a distinct possibility.

The first attempt at a Champions League failed, but it will make a hell of a lot more sense now the franchises own sides in the other leagues. We are not far from a time when the world turns on its head, from a time when international cricket is the side gig and franchise cricket the day job.

Warner didn’t turn out to be the agent of that change but he was possibly its harbinger.