David Warner’s dizzying January 2024 will herald an era of club versus country for cricket, as Cricket Australia’s chiefs admitted not all series can be prioritised equally.
A new phase in player-governing body relationships was set out by CA’s chair Mike Baird and chief executive Nick Hockley at the board’s AGM on Melbourne on Thursday, based on trust and flexibility built into the new pay deal with the Australian Cricketers Association. Warner exemplifies this.
Should he be chosen for a final Test series against Pakistan in December and January, Warner will follow up his last match at the SCG by playing for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League until the tournament ends on January 24 – opposite a Test series between Australia and West Indies.
David Warner leaps to celebrate scoring a World Cup century against the Netherlands.Credit: AP
Warner, in strong form with back-to-back World Cup centuries, will then fly to the UAE to take up a lucrative gig with the Dubai Capitals – part of the conglomerate of clubs owned by his Indian Premier League team, the Delhi Capitals – until early February.
In that time, Warner is expected to miss the 50-over matches scheduled to be played against the West Indies in the first week of February. But he would then return in time to play in the three T20 internationals against the Caribbean side that form part of Australia’s preparation for the World Cup in the West Indies and the United States in June.
Hockley said that it was increasingly the case that not all international series could be afforded the same priority, but that this also allowed for the development of younger talent through opportunity.
“What we may see increasingly with the schedule is we may have to prioritise certain campaigns,” Hockley told this masthead. “But equally that’s a great opportunity then for more players, more competition for spots.
“We’re also very conscious of the increased opportunities for players, and to show some level of flexibility to pursue opportunities, certainly in the IPL and some of the other leagues around the world is something that we’ll need to support going forward.”
As recently as a few years ago, such flexibility would have been anathema to Australian cricket, with players unlikely to be invited again to play for their country if they wished to take up franchise deals instead.
“What we may see increasingly with the schedule is we may have to prioritise certain campaigns .… But equally that’s a great opportunity then for more players, more competition for spots.”
Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley
But as part of a relationship that the CA chair Mike Baird insisted must be characterised by trust, Warner and others will have the flexibility they are seeking to balance international and T20 club commitments.
“There are changes that are here and changes that are coming,” Baird said. “But the fundamental thing that you need is trust and a relationship with the players, and we’ve certainly established that through the MoU [memorandum of understanding]. The frameworks are there.
“So if we need to be agile, we will be, but we’ll do it in partnership with the players. That’s the critical thing you need as we face this changing environment.”
CA’s AGM delivered a healthy set of books, largely aided by the securing of a $42 million surplus from hosting last year’s men’s T20 World Cup, that will absorb a low revenue season featuring Pakistan and the West Indies, before India and England visit in the next two summers.
But it was the challenges of the future that occupied most airtime. Baird and Hockley revealed that CA had shelved mooted plans to raise capital via selling off any portion of the game to private investors, instead retaining a $50 million loan with NAB for another three years.
They also discussed how a recent independent study of CA, conducted by Boston Consulting Group, had found the game’s head office was run efficiently, but called for better collaboration – in contrast to some fractious recent years – and also the need to hire and appoint the best possible people in senior roles.
“Cricket’s not standing still,” Baird said. “There are huge developments in sport across the world, not just cricket, and our role is to understand those. As we’ve looked at them, we’ve spoken to other sports, we’ve spoken to a whole range of stakeholders, banks and private equity firms.
“At the same time we need to align ourselves and be as effective and efficient as possible, and that’s also work that’s gone on. Yes there is a cycle, but post-Covid we are building strength and building reserves for the long-term good of the game. That work we’ve done was incredibly informative and is going to allow us to go after every opportunity.
“Robust conversations and differences of opinion is healthy, but I think we’re seeing very constructive relationships, trust being built across the system, and that’s a good thing.”
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