Last Updated on 18 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket Australia’s fight against competing T20 leagues has been laid bare with players boss Paul Marsh confirming that some Australia players have been offered more than $1 million each to feature in the SA20. That is according to a report in The Age, which also revealed that some players are yet to sign the central contracts offered to them in April amid payment concerns.
One key area of concern among Australian cricketers is overseas players earning more than top local talent in the Big Bash League (BBL). CA and the Australian Cricket Association (ACA) are currently working on how to improve salaries for domestic players with privatisation not yet agreed on among the states.
The threat is real: Australia players offered more than $1 million – Players Boss Paul Marsh
The top Australian players earn around $300,000 to play in the BBL; far less than what the privatised SA20 is offering. CA and ACA are aiming to increase this to the vicinity of $800,000 to avoid a situation where players leave to play overseas.
“Some of our players have been offered in excess of $1 million Australian to go to the SA20,” Marsh said. “When you compare that to what they’re earning in the BBL, in some cases it is five times plus.
“It’s definitely real, there are lots of players who are getting offered pretty significant financial outcomes to go, and there are players who are weighing that up. That’ll be difficult if they’re Australian-contracted players, but if they’re not it becomes a bit easier.
“In a perfect world our players would rather stay here and play in the BBL and sign Australian contracts, but there are some realities here we’re all aware of. There are real opportunities out there.”
CA has aimed to push on with privatising the BBL, with Cricket Victoria even announcing the end of Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades. However, due to backlash, the Stars and Renegades will remain for the 2026/27 season with discussions around privatisation still ongoing.
Specifically, state boards, namely Cricket New South Wales and Queensland Cricket, have questioned CA’s plan, which even CEO Todd Greenberg admitted should have been better communicated.
“There’s no doubt we could have, and should have, done a better job of the public narrative of why we’re doing private capital and why the concept of private capital is valuable for Australian cricket,” Greenberg said on SEN radio in May, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“I do think it’s easy to run the other argument. Because ultimately people don’t like change in any form of life, cricket particularly. Change comes hard. So on reflection, we probably could have and should have done a better job of that.”
It is a view that Marsh shares. The players boss said that he and players are concerned about the governance changes that comes with private ownership and what that would look like for Australian cricket.
“We’ve got some concerns about the potential governance changes that could come from this, and really what’s needed here is an independent review of the governance model rather than some sort of negotiated outcome, because it’s probably the biggest issue in Australian cricket and it does need to be worked through,” he said.
