Cricket Australia is reportedly facing yet another crisis after its attempt to privatise the Big Bash League – its premier domestic T20 competition – hit a roadblock. Three of Cricket Australia’s six state associations (New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia) rejected the current $600 million-$800 million privatization model. However, Cricket Australia is set to face an even bigger crisis as five of its senior players are unhappy with the central contracts presented to them. According to a report in Code Sports, the players are unhappy with the offers and are yet to sign.
The report added that with the privatisation plans rejected, many BBL stars might choose to play overseas in order to get better contracts. Local players have been earning AUD 100,000-$200,000 less than overseas players.
This development comes days after it was reported that Cricket Australia had offered Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins AUD $12 million as part of a three-year deal to secure his exclusive rights.
Cummins, who is currently leading SRH in IPL 2026, is earning Rs 18 crore (approximately USD $2.1 million) per season from his franchise.
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg recently shed light on the concerns after the privatisation plans were rejected.
“There may be a world where some want to do this, and some don’t, or some want to do it now, and some want to do it in another time frame. Option A for us has always been that we do it at the same time to extract the maximum value in the market,” said Greenberg.
“But clearly we’re not at that point. So we now have to reassess what comes next,” Greenberg told reporters.
“We would have to get some deep analysis to understand the impacts on Australian cricket, because if you get back to the very objective that we started with, to do this, it needs to benefit the entire sport.
“We have to look at that lens in the decisions that we make. And we’ve now got some analysis to do if that’s the case or not,” he added.
Featured Video Of The Day
IPL 2026 | Delhi Capitals Wins By 6 Wickets Against Mumbai Indians: Redemption For Sameer Rizvi
Topics mentioned in this article