Last Updated on 3 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Some of Australia’s best players are considering jumping ship to the SA20 if salaries in the Big Bash League (BBL) don’t improve.
According to a report in The Age, players are requesting competitive salaries of approximately $1 million each to play in the BBL. The aforementioned publication also reports that senior players, including Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins, are considering asking Cricket Australia (CA) for no-objection certificates (NOCs) to play in the 2028 SA20 season if they feel they aren’t being paid their market value.
SA20 would be able to pay Australian players a lot more than the BBL can currently
The market values top Australian at nearly $1 million each for a major franchise tournament outside the Indian Premier League (IPL). Currently, the BBL is not able to provide anywhere near that kind of compensation.
This news will surely create a greater sense of urgency for CA to attract private investment for the BBL. However, there has been a delay in progress given pushback from Cricket NSW and Queensland Cricket, leaving top BBL stars frustrated at their pay compared to that of overseas imports.
“There’s a premium for international players in the BBL – they get about $100,000 more than the top Australian players,” said former CA CEO Malcolm Speed on SEN radio on Wednesday. “Get rid of that. The Australians deserve to be paid as much as everyone else.”
In another headache for CA, a number of players are unhappy with how funds are dispersed across the central contract list.
Players making a good living outside of the BBL is not in Australia’s best interests – James Allsopp
CA’s head of cricket James Allsopp has recognised the threat and understands Australian players need to be well looked after.
“The two priorities, in my mind, are making sure multi-format players that drive a lot of commercial value, and also performance value for the team, are well looked after, and we can compete with those market forces, and then also our specialist white-ball players,” Allsopp said, as quoted by The Age.
“They’re in pretty high demand. There’s a world now, where they can jump on the franchise circuit and make a really good living away from Australian cricket, or even away from our BBL, and that’s not going to be in the best interests of Australian cricket.”
Earlier this year, CA CEO Todd Greenberg was forthright in his view on privatisation in the BBL. In an interview with The Grade Cricketer in January, Greenberg said Australia must compete with the “significant funds” other leagues have to offer.
“So on private capital, the concept is that there are global T20 leagues popping up all over the world. They’ve got significant funds; they’re paying players significant amounts of money,” he said.
“If we want to compete, we’ve got to be in that conversation. Because otherwise what happens is your sport gets further away from having the best players. You talked about the best Australian players; 100%, you’re right, but we also want the best players globally to see us as a league they want to play in.”
Top Australian players, including Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Travis Head, will not feature in the 2026/27 BBL season due to a packed international calendar. After the four-match Test series against New Zealand – which ends in early January – the Australian team will travel to India for a huge five-match series that kicks off later that month.
However, CA is eyeing off a big 2027/28 BBL season with Pakistan and Sri Lanka touring for Tests. According to sources, Australia will play Pakistan in December and January, before hosting Sri Lanka in February post the BBL season.
