Paine says players want clearer idea on money
AUSTRALIAN Test cricket captain Tim Paine says players won’t be greedy, as they wait to find out if they will be asked to take a pay cut.
Cricket Australia has stood down the vast majority of its staff for the rest of the financial year, citing uncertainty created by COVID-19, and is in talks with the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) regarding players’ pay.
The Memorandum of Understanding dictates that Cricket Australia must, by Thursday, provide the ACA with a list of national contracts plus revenue estimates for 2020-21.
Paine said the players knew they would get less pay because of the revenue sharing model they have in place with Cricket Australia. He agreed however that the players needed to get a clearer idea of Cricket Australia’s financial position before agreeing to any further cuts.
“Players need to know the absolute financial positions of the game and the players aren’t going to be greedy,” Paine said on ABC Radio.
“Our livelihood, all the people associated with the ACA and the players association, their livelihood is dependent on the game of cricket being healthy.
“So at the moment if a pay cut for us is on the cards and that keeps our game thriving well into the future, then that’s something we’ll certainly have to look at.”
Paine wasn’t that surprised at the financial state of cricket in Australia, given what was happening with the economy and in the business world.
“I think commercially a lot of sponsors have been pretty hard hit and it’s obviously going to hit cricket Australia at some stage then as well,” he said.
“I think there’s a bit of safeguarding towards the potential of India not coming (on a tour in December/January) which is worth something like 250 to 300 million dollars.”