David Warner has signed a two-year deal with the Sydney Thunder worth at least $70,000 a game as Cricket Australia attempts to revive the Big Bash.
The dynamic left-hander will become the first player with an Australian contract to receive a marketing deal from CA as the governing body faces unprecedented pressure from new UAE and South African T20 series cashed up by Indian money.
David Warner on his way to a hundred for the Sydney Thunder in 2011 during one of his three BBL matches.Credit:Fairfax
Warner, 35, will replace Usman Khawaja on the Thunder roster, taking over a contract believed to be worth about $150,000, but most of his money will come from a CA marketing contract.
The only players to receive CA marketing contracts in the past were retired stars Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen, Mike Hussey and Shane Watson.
CA is investing about $8 million in the Big Bash this season as the governing body desperately attempts to maintain the competition’s value as it begins broadcast rights negotiations.
Ironically, Warner may be the only Australia player to benefit from this investment as CA institutes an overseas player draft, with the best players able to earn $340,000.
But many of those overseas players are likely to stay for only the first half the competition, which begins in December, before heading to the more lucrative competitions in the UAE and South Africa in January. The best player in the UAE tournament can earn up to $700,000 for a competition half the length of the Big Bash.
CA was hoping that Australian players would step in to help fill the void following the Sydney Test in early January now that South Africa have cancelled three one-day matches to ensure their best players can be available for the SA T20 competition.
David Warner and Shane Warne pose together in 2011. Warner’s new BBL deal will be composed similarly to Warne’s.Credit:Getty Images
Warner also played a single match for the Sixers, against the Thunder, and was dismissed for a second-ball duck.
A veteran of 96 Tests, 133 ODI’s and 91 T20 matches for Australia, Warner said he wanted to give back to the game.
David Warner playing for Australia in Sri Lanka last month.Credit:Getty Images
“I’m really excited to get back to the Big Bash with the club where I started,” Warner said.
“I care deeply about the game, and I am conscious that the conditions that I enjoy as a professional cricketer have largely come from other senior players who have come before me.
“That is how the game is structured and I understand that my contribution to the future of the BBL will hopefully benefit the next generation of players long after I am retired.“
Warner also said his family had influenced his decision to return to the BBL.
“My ‘girls’ have told me that they’d love to watch me play at home and in the BBL,” he said.
“It will be great for us to be a part of the BBL as a family, and it is something that I am really looking forward to sharing with them.“
