Cricket Australia confirms loss of 40 jobs, cutting AUD $40 million from annual budget

Cricket Australia has taken some major decisions in order to reduce the costs to cope with the financial losses caused due to the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, Cricket Australia revealed that they are set to remove 40 more employees, pause international tours for the country's A teams, reduce the budgets for administration, travel, marketing, advertising and will cut bonuses of its senior management in an attempt to improve the financial situation of the cricket board.

ALSO READ | IPL 2020 likely to be held from Sep 26-Nov 8 after bleak T20 World Cup chances: Report

Cricket Australia makes significant changes to reduce costs and improve financial  condition of the board

Cricket Australia, which is led by interim CEO Nick Hockley, who replaced Kevin Roberts on Tuesday, has come out with a new program that it believes will ensure "long-term sustainability and growth of the game." In a press release, Cricket Australia said that the amended FY21 plan presented to staff identifies cost reductions of approximately $40 million a year to partly mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on revenue and other factors such as biosecurity costs and match attendances.

The release further read that regrettably, the plan includes a reduction of 40 roles. The positive impact of the Job Keeper program and an increasingly improved outlook for the season ahead have been recent factors considered in arriving at this final number. Hockley said that he hopes to see Australian cricket "emerge stronger from the crisis".

ALSO READ | Sunil Gavaskar reckons possibility of T20 World Cup taking place 'higher' than IPL 2020

Cricket Australia Chairman Earl Eddings said that it is a tough time for employees but the decisions have been taken for the sustainability of the game during this pandemic. He added that they recognise that this is a difficult time for Cricket Australia's employees, particularly for those staff members affected by these redundancies and their families. However, he added that their responsibility is to navigate a path for cricket through this period of uncertainty and disruption to ensure they come out the other side sustainable in the short term and prosperous in the long term.

Cricket Australia has decided to continue the Marsh Sheffield Shield, WNCL and Marsh Cup in their current formats for the FY20-21 season and maintaining the current number of games for rebel WBBL and KFC BBL. However, international tours for Australia A teams as well as CA XI fixtures, the Fox Cricket National Premier Cricket T20 and Toyota Second XI competitions for FY21 have been put on hold.

ALSO READ | Michael Holding okay with 'not cricket' IPL 2020 to be hosted in place of T20 World Cup in 2020

Nick Hockley said the changes to Cricket Australia's cost base would help cope with the short-term impact of COVID-19 and create a more sustainable financial position to manage four-year cycles that can involve annual revenue swings of AUD $100 million (USD $68.92 million) depending on the cricket schedule.

Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts' tenure ends after just 20 months in charge

Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Kevin Roberts resigned on Tuesday following relentless criticism about his leadership during the COVID-19 lockdown after a turbulent 20-month tenure. Kevin Roberts' decision to lay down 80 per cent of Cricket Australia staff ultimately cost him his job, with turmoil growing among staff who have been kept in the dark about Cricket Australia's apparent crisis described by one Test legend as “premature panic”.

Meanwhile, Nick Hockley was announced as the interim Chief Executive by Cricket Australia following the resignation of Kevin Roberts. Hockley is currently the Chief Executive of the ICC T20 World Cup. He also administered the conduct of the women's edition of the tournament earlier this year.

ALSO READ | Wasim Jaffer believes IPL 2020 should be played ahead of ICC T20 World Cup 2020 for this reason

IMAGE COURTESY: CRICKET.COM.AU