Langer fears a COVID financial reckoning

COACH Justin Langer says the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet hit home for cricket, fearing he will lose valuable resources when Cricket Australia’s financial books are balanced after this series.

England is due to jet out for the Ashes next summer and before that the Aussies are plotting to win the World Test Championship at Lord’s and the T20 World Cup in India.

But Langer is acutely aware that budget cuts are coming in a similar vein to the winter codes, which have shed dozens of full-time coaches as well as medical experts, recruiting staff and administrators, and enforced significant pay-cuts on many survivors.

“Like other codes, because of the biosecurity and how strict it has been to get through this summer, and how important we all recognise it to be, I’m more nervous about what happens at the end of the year,” Langer said. “When the numbers come through and the budgets and all that sort of stuff.”

Langer, who sits on West Coast’s board, watched AFL boss Gillon McLachlan rip $63 million out of the football department spending soft cap for 2021. Every club was forced to sack multiple assistant and development coaches when the soft cap went from $9.7 million to $6.2 million per club.

Langer has spoken to senior AFL coaches on the best ways to streamline operations.

“I’m sure cricket’s not going to be immune to that, and I’m really hopeful that with all the sacrifices and all the work that’s gone into this summer there’s not too much of an impact at the end of the year,” Langer said.