Re: Australian Cricket - Crisis, What Crisis ??
Reply #1477 –
That's like saying the AFL averages is now $340K.
Most do not earn that much, many only play a fraction of the available games, yet to get a game they have to train, travel and work as hard as someone who plays every game.
For a job that takes then all over the country working pretty much 7 days a week for at least half of the year it's not as glamorous as many think.
That is why IPL is so attractive, if they are any good at T20 they can earn a years wage in one game! BCCI know this, they know playing IPL disrupts the Test careers, so they took steps to make sure their own Test players were not as heavily affected. Other countries were slow to catch on!
Sorry LP but Shield cricketers are on a retainer of around $200K with match payments and bonuses on top of that. $300K is what most non-Test aspirant Shield cricketers will earn. In 2017, Australian Test cricketers were on a retainer of $816K with Smith on $1.5M.
It was interesting listening to John Hastings today. He said that IPL is attractive to Shield cricketers because they may top up their earnings by around $130K in a very short season. Very few are on the big bucks. However, for countries like South Africa, where Test cricketers get around $200K, the IPL is more attractive.